Unheilig

Infobox musical artist
Name = Unheilig


Img_capt = Der Graf
Img_size = 200
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Background = group_or_band
Alias =
Origin = Germany
Genre = Neue Deutsche Härte
Years_active = 1999-present
Label = Four Rock Entertainment (currently);
Bloodline (previously)
Associated_acts =
URL =
Current_members = Der Graf
Grant Stevens
José Alvarez-Brill
Past_members =
Notable_instruments =

Unheilig (German for "Unholy") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band. They are stylistically connected to the Dark Culture. Unheilig was formed in 1999 and now consists of principally Der Graf, with his live musicians Licky and Henning Verlage.

Early History

In 1999, together with Grant Stevens (songwriter of “Everlasting Friends” from the Holsten Pilsener TV spot) and José Alvarez-Brill (Wolfsheim, Joachim Witt, De/Vision) the foundation for Unheilig was laid by Der Graf.The single “Sage Ja!” was released on Bloodline Records in 1999, shot straight into the German DAC charts and became a club smash. In February 2001, the debut album “Phosphor” came on to the European market again on Bloodline/Connected Music.

Early Success

Over the next few months, the band guested at major scene festivals and open air events throughout Germany (Zillo Open Air, Wave Gothic Treffen Leipzig, Doomsday Festival, Woodstage Festival) before taking a break from live work to write and produce the Christmas album “Frohes Fest” and the third album “Das 2. Gebot”.

In February 2003, the band went on tour as support to L'Âme Immortelle, introducing eleven European cities to its new album, “Das 2. Gebot”.Directly after the tour, the EP “Schutzengel” was released, including four previously unreleased tracks. The band played in festivals during the summer. The M'era Luna Festival was one of the highlights for the band and the fans. Der Graf produced remixes for Absurd Minds, Terminal Choice and other bands and finally produced a song for the Xbox game "Project Gotham Racing 2". Then the band started the production of the recordings for the upcoming album “Zelluloid”.

Zelluloid

“Zelluloid” was released on February 23rd, 2004, and at the same time, the band toured with Terminal Choice. With this release and the very successful tour, Unheilig finally reached all kinds of media and a lot of new fans. The result of this enthusiasm was that Unheilig gave the fans the chance to vote their own new single release which became “Freiheit”. The E.P. “Freiheit” was released October 18th, 2004, and the band played some more release concerts to promote the record.The fact that Unheilig played more concerts in 2004 than ever before in their career revealed the need for a live CD. To this end, the CD "Gastspiel" was released on January 31st, 2005.

Year 2005 and On

Preparations for the DVD “KopfKino” started. Six weeks before the DVD was released, Unheilig was played for the first time on one of the regular music television channels (VIVA Plus) with their videoclip “Freiheit”.

The album "Moderne Zeiten" was released at January 20th, 2006. The main topic of the album is dreams and their implementation. The intro track has the following text (translated from German): "The cities have fallen and become one; Progress determines existence. Humans have become numbers and fear their drive. Free thought, desire and love are subject to censorship. Millions accept this from the beginning to their end. Will you also go the way presented, or do you belong to those who rise in these modern times?"

With that Der Graf calls in addition to life the dreams without any censorship.This message is also in songs like "Lass uns Liebe machen" or "Ich will alles".

In 2008, Unheilig released album "Puppenspiel" [ [http://www.side-line.com/news_comments.php?id=28462_0_2_1_C Unheilig to release 'Puppenspiel'] ] which is the follow up to the 2006 studio album "Moderne Zeiten". The album will be issued in 2 different versions: a regular album version with 14 songs in a jewel case, and a limited version in digipak with the following two bonus songs: "Glaub an mich" and "Spielzeugmann".

Discography

Albums

* 2001: "Phosphor"
* 2002: "Frohes Fest"
* 2003: "Das 2. Gebot"
* 2004: "Zelluloid"
* 2005: "Gastspiel" (Live-Doppel-CD)
* 2006: "Moderne Zeiten"
* 2006: "Goldene Zeiten" (Live-Doppel-CD)
* 2008: "Puppenspiel"

Maxi singles

* 2001: "Sage Ja!"
* 2001: "Komm zu mir"
* 2003: "Maschine'
* 2006: "Ich will leben"

EPs

* 2003: "Schutzengel"
* 2004: "Freiheit"
* 2006: "Astronaut"
* 2008: "Spiegelbild"

DVDs

* 2005: "Kopfkino"
* 2008: "Vorhang auf!"
* 2008: "Goldene Zeiten" (As part of the "Vorhang auf!" Limited Edition set)

References

External links

* [http://www.unheilig.com Official site]
* [http://www.unheiliger-fanclub.de Official international fanclub]
* [http://www.myspace.com/unheilig Official Unheilig MySpace page]
* [http://www.unheilig.ru Russian Unheilig fansite]