Bethlehem (German band)

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Bethlehem is a German dark metal band from Grevenbroich. The band was founded in 1991 and formed the term Dark metal with their debut album of the same name.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Band

Many of Bethlehem's songs have morbid and sick lyrics, which may for the most part be personal to the band. On Dictus Te Necare (lat. You should kill yourself) Rainer Landfermann, well-known from the German Death metal band Pavor, is the vocalist, whose voice is described by Kostas Panagiotou in his review on doom-metal.com as "one of the sickest and most extreme voices you'll ever hear from a human being". On S.U.I.Z.I.D. his place is taken by Marco Kehren from the band Deinonychus. Guido Meyer de Voltaire, the vocalist from Schatten aus der Alexanderwelt and Mein Weg, is also well-known with his Band Aardvarks. His vocal performance is equally extreme, though a lot more varied. Andreas Classen, vocalist on "Dark Metal" also did vocals for Paragon Belial, a German Black Metal band.


Over the years Bethlehem modernized their style and so the early Black and Doom metal influences are now hardly present, the band favouring a more Neue Deutsche Härte (New German Hardness), Gothic and Electronic approach. In 1998 Bethlehem collaborates on the soundtrack for the American underground movie Gummo with the tracks Schuld uns'res knöcherigen Faltpferds and Verschleierte Irreligiösität.

[edit] Controversy

The band gained notoriety early on, when a German teenager had purchased dozens of copies of their demo and used them to construct a sort of altar in his room. This outraged his mother, who embarked on a moralistic crusade against the band, who she perceived was damaging her son and other children with their lyrics and music. Her lobbying, among other things, prompted the authorities to ban Bethlehem from performing in several cities, a ban that apparently held through the mid-1990s. Bethlehem appear to be weary of official harassment in their interviews, but at the same time willing to stir up more controversy. This includes overt references to suicide and confronting photos, featuring a member injecting something into his arm and the dead body of their one-time singer Andreas Klassen. The latter is rumored to be a hoax, being a grainy picture showing a man resembling the "Dark Metal" era singer hanging by his neck from a ceiling rafter.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums and Singles

[edit] Other Publications and Cooperations

  • Various Artists [Red Stream] - To Live Is Ever To Be In Danger (1999)
  • Gummo [Soundtrack] (1998)

[edit] Members

[edit] Actual (Mein Weg)

  • Jürgen Bartsch: Bass (all the time), Electronics, Synths (Mein Weg)
  • Steve Wolz: Drums (Profane Fetmilch Lenzt Elf Krank, Schatten aus der Alexanderwelt, Mein Weg);
  • Olaf Eckhardt: Electric Guitars (Schatten aus der Alexanderwelt, Mein Weg)
  • Andreas Tekath: Session-Keyboards/Piano (on Mein Weg)

[edit] Former Members and Cooperations

  • Guido Meyer de Voltaire: Vocals (Schatten aus der Alexanderwelt, Mein Weg)
  • Reiner Tiedemann: Keyboards (Schatten aus der Alexanderwelt), Remixes (Suicide Radio)
  • Klaus Matton: Electric Guitars (until Profane Fetmilch Lenzt Elf Krank)
  • Marco Kehren: Vocals (on S.U.I.Z.I.D.; Reflektionen aufs Sterben)
  • Markus Lossen: Drums (on S.U.I.Z.I.D.; Reflektionen aufs Sterben)
  • Cathrin Campen: Vocals (on S.U.I.Z.I.D.; Reflektionen aufs Sterben)
  • Rainer Landfermann: Vocals (on Dictius Te Necare)
  • Steinhoff: Drums (until Dictius Te Necare)
  • Andreas Classen: Vocals (until Dark Metal)
  • Oliver Schmidt: Session-Keyboards (on Thy Pale Dominion)

[edit] External links

[edit] English

[edit] German

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