Megaherz

Singer Alexander "Lex" Wohnhaas at Nocturnal Culture Night festival 2016

Megaherz (English "Mega-heart", a pun on the homophone "megahertz") is a German industrial metal group formed in Munich in 1995. One of the band's most famous songs is "Gott sein" ("To be God") on their first full album Wer Bist Du? ("Who Are You?").

Megaherz has gone through many changes in musical style since their founding. Their early works are a fairly dark alternative metal, comparable to 1990s American bands such as Faith No More, whereas recent works are comparable to bands such as Oomph! and Rammstein. Their early albums all include at least one song based on a classic German fairy tale, including "Rapunzel" on Kopfschuss, "Windkind" ("Wind child") on Himmelfahrt and "I.M Rumpelstilzchen" on Herzwerk II.

The band has changed line-ups since its formation in 1995, usually changing guitarists and drummers. Guitarist Christian Bystron and bassist Wenz Weninger have been the band's only consistent members since 1997. Since vocalist Alexander Wesselsky's departure in 2003, no founding member has remained in the band.

History

With Alexx Wesselsky and Mathias Elsholz (1993–2006)

Megaherz began as a musical project of Alexx Wesselsky. The band was essentially unformed until 1993, when Christian "X-ti" Bystron and Wenz Weninger joined the band. In 1995 they released their first album Herzwerk.

After Noel Pix joined the band as a keyboarder in 1997, their music started to show more of an industrial influence. The first example of the band's step towards industrial metal was their third album, Kopfschuss ("Headshot"), released in 1998. The single "Freiflug" was released in 1999 to further promote Kopfschuss; the single became their most successful single to date, as it peaked on the Deutsche Alternative Charts at No. 7.

This album was followed by Himmelfahrt, which was released in 2000 and become their debut album on the Media Control Charts, peaking at No. 78. Herzwerk II, released in 2002 and had similar success having also peaked at No. 78 on the German charts. In October 2002, vocalist Alexx Wesselsky announced that he was leaving the band due to creative differences, he would finish the 2002 tour before officially leaving.

Wesselsky officially left the band on January 1, 2003 and later formed the group Eisbrecher with another former Megaherz band member, Noel Pix.

In April 2003, the remaining members announced the new singer: Mathias "Jablonski" Elsholz of the band Twelve after Elf. Elsholz was already familiar to fans as his vocals had been briefly featured on the track "Falsche Götter" from the album Himmelfahrt. By June 2004, a new album was under way. A new song was soon released with a small Macromedia Flash animation, substantiating the rumors of a new singer. This song was later revealed to be "Zeig' mir dein Gesicht" from the album 5, which was released on the 6th of December 2004.

On September 23, 2005, the rest of the tours for the year were cancelled, as Elsholz left in "total surprise" to the band. The reason was not given on the Megaherz homepage, but, in the Eisbrecher forums, Elsholz announced he and his wife were expecting twins, and he wished to devote more time to his soon-to-be family.^[1] 5 was released in the USA by Eclipse Records on February 21, 2006.

New lead singer and Heuchler (2007–2010)

On April 18, 2007, it was confirmed on Megaherz's official website that the band found a new singer and was working on their sixth record. It was also stated that the band would tour while recording their new album.^[2]

By August 18, 2007, the band's new line-up was announced and the website was relaunched. Lex Wohnhaas, from the band Seelenbrand was announced as the new singer and Jürgen "Bam Bam" Wiehler, from the band Bonfire was replacing Jürgen Zink. Lex previously played for Megaherz during a concert in Moscow just after Elsholz left.

The new album, Heuchler, was released in July 2008. After its release, the new album reached position No. 31 in German Album Charts. The band played at the Summer Breeze Open Air festival in August 2008, and continued touring in 2009, playing at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen festival.

A compilation album was released in early March 2009 titled Totgesagte Leben Länger ("Those declared dead live longer", a line from "Dein Herz Schlägt" from the album 5^[3]).

The band released their first remix album, Loblieder, on April 1, 2010, featuring remixes by artists such as Die Krupps, Suicide Commando, Rotersand, Letzte Instanz and Staubkind.

Götterdämmerung and Zombieland (2010–2015)

By December 22, 2010, Megaherz were back in the studio working on their seventh album. On April 28, 2011 Megaherz announced that Christoph "Chris" Klinke, from "From Constant Visions", was the band's new Rhythm Guitarist replacing Roland Vencelj.

Announced on their official website on May 24, 2011 Megaherz will release their new album on October 14, 2011, But by August 20 it was announced that the release date for the new album has been moved to early December. It was then announced on their official website on September 22, 2011, that "In coordination with our record company GoldenCore Records/ZYX Music we decided to postpone the release of our new album finally to January 20th 2012."[2]. Megaherz would also mention that the new album will feature 11 songs and that one of the new songs will become available for download in October 2011.

Megaherz went on tour with Subway to Sally and Letzte Instanz in December 2011 before embarking on their own national tour in early 2012 to promote the new album.

The first single Jagdzeit was released on December 23, 2011. The new album titled Götterdämmerung was released on January 20, 2012 and hit the Media Control Charts at No. 19.

Megaherz played at the Wacken Open Air festival on August 2 as well as the Mera Luna Festival on August 11, 2012.

Megaherz released their first concert DVD on November 16, 2012 titled Götterdämmerung: Wacken Live. Gegen Den Wind was released on January 25, 2013 as the second single to the band's album Götterdämmerung, later Gegen Den Win also features on the album Zombieland.

The band announced on their official website on January 20 that they were working on a new album. By the end of February, the band announced that they had signed with a new record company, Napalm Records.

The band's eighth studio album Zombieland was released on October 24, 2014 and would chart in the Media Control Charts at #17.

Megaherz then went on a tour with Unheilig as support for Unheiligs Gipfelstürmer Open Air Tour between June and September, 2015.

Erdwärts and Tours (2015-Present)

Megaherz would then release a new EP titled Erdwärts on December 4, 2015 followed by a tour across Russia, Germany, Austria and Switzerland between December, 2015 and April, 2016. The EP consists of 4 new songs and 2 re-recorded tracks Jordan and Teufel, both songs previously released on the bands 1998 album Kopfschuss.

Megaherz will once again be going on tour with Unheilig between May and July, 2016 as a supporting act during Unheilig's Ein Letzte Mal Tournee, which will be followed by the 2nd leg of the Erdwärts Club Tour between September, 2016 and January, 2017.

Announced by Unheilig on August 31, 2016, Megaherz will be 1 of 4 supporting acts at the tour finale at ReinEnergieStadion on September 10, 2016.

Musical style

Megaherz primarily plays a style of Neue Deutsche Härte, a subgenre of industrial metal which takes elements of groove metal, techno, and German rock. Megaherz makes use of clean and deep male vocals, heavy riffs, samples, keyboard and synthesizer effects. During the early days of the band, Megaherz played an alternative metal style which was similar to Faith No More. In their albums Wer Bist Du and Kopfschuss, took on a rap metal and funk metal style, which included slap bass riffs and rapping.

Members

Current members

• Alexander "Lex" Wohnhaas – Vocals (2007–present)
• Christian "X-Ti" Bystron – Lead guitar (1997–present), programming (2002–present)
• Wenz Weninger – Bass (1997–present)
• Jürgen "Bam Bam" Wiehler – Drums (2007–present)
• Christoph "Chris" Klinke – Rhythm Guitar (2011–present)

Former members

• Alexander "Alexx" Wesselsky – Vocals (1995–2003)
• Mathias "Jablonski" Elsholz – Vocals (2003–2005)
• Jochen "Noel Pix" Seibert – Guitar, keyboards, programming (1998–2001)
• Christian Scharinger – Keyboards, programming (1995–1997)
• Josef Kalleder – Bass guitar (1995–1997)
• Roland Vencelj – Guitar (2007–2011)
• Oliver Pohl – Guitar (2002–2003)
• Marc Bredtmann – Guitar (1995–1997)
• Jürgen Zink – Drums (2003–2007)
• Jürgen Schlachter - Drums (2002–2003)
• Frank Gegerle – Drums (1998–2001, touring 2005)
• Tommy Eberhard – Drums (1997–1998)
• Tobias Trinkl – Drums (1995–1997)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

Remix albums

• 2010: Loblieder

Singles

• 1997: "Gott sein"
• 1998: "Rock Me Amadeus"
• 1998: "Liebestöter"
• 1999: "Freiflug" (#7 in DAC)
• 2000: "Himmelfahrt"
• 2002: "Herzblut"
• 2004: "Gott Sein '04" (non-physical release)
• 2004: "Dein Herz Schlägt" (non-physical release)
• 2008: "Mann von Welt"
• 2011: "Jagdzeit" (#10 in DAC)
• 2013: "Gegen Den Wind"
• 2014: "Wir Könnten Götter Sein"
• 2014: "Für Immer"

EPs

• 2007: "Freiflug EP: The early years (1996-2000)"
• 2008: "Mann von Welt"
• 2008: "Heuchler"
• 2011: "Jagdzeit"
• 2015: "Erdwärts"

Compilation albums

• 2001: Querschnitt
• 2009: Totgesagte Leben Länger

Music Videos

• 1999: Freiflug
• 2011: Jagdzeit
• 2013: Herz aus Gold
• 2014: Für Immer
• 2016: Einsam

References

1. ↑
2. ↑ Megaherz | News
3. ↑ http://www.megaherz.com/en/band/releases/megaherz_5#dein_herz_schlaegt

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Megaherz.

• Official English website
• Official German website