Megaherz

This article is about the musical group. For the unit of frequency, see megahertz.

Megaherz
Origin	Munich, Germany
Genres	Neue Deutsche Härte, Industrial metal, Alternative metal, Rap metal
Years active	1993–present
Labels	ZYX Music, Sony BMG
Associated acts	Eisbrecher
Website	www.megaherz.com www.megaherz.de
Members
Alexander "Lex" Wohnhaas Christian "X-ti" Bystron Wenz "Wenz" Weninger Jürgen "Bam Bam" Wiehler Christoph "Chris" Klinke
Past members
Alexander "Alexx" Wesselsky Marc Bredtmann Josef Kalleder Tobias Trinkl Christian Scharinger Matthias "Jablonski" Elsholz Oliver Pohl Jürgen Zink Frank Gegerle Jochen "Noel Pix" Seibert Roland Vencelj

Megaherz (English "Mega-heart", a pun on the homophone "megahertz") is an industrial metal group formed in Munich, Germany in 1993. 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 Rumpelstilzschen" on Herzwerk II.

History

With Alexx Wesselsky (1993-2003)

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.

After Noel Pix joined the band as a keyboarder, 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 promote Kopfschuss; the single became their most successful single to date, as it peaked on the Deutsche Alternative Charts at #7.

This album was followed by Himmelfahrt, which was released in 2000 and become their debut album on the Media Control Charts, peaking at #78. Herzwerk II, released in 2002, also peaked at #78 on the German charts. In October 2002, vocalist Alexx Wesselsky announced that he would be leaving the band due to creative differences, but he would finish the 2002 tour.

Line-up changes and 5 (2003-2006)

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

In April 2003, the remaining members announced the new singer: Matthias "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 6 December 2004.

On September 23, 2005, the rest of the tours for the year were cancelled, as Elsholz left in a "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.

Heuchler and Loblieder (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 relaunched. Lex Wohnhaas, from the band Seelenbrand, was announced as the new singer and Jürgen "Bam Bam" Wiehler, from the band Bonfire, 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 #31 in German Album Charts, the highest chart entry of any Megaherz release to date.

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.

Licht der Welt (2010-present)

Announced on the official website on December 22, 2010 Megaherz are in the studio working on their seventh album. After which Megaherz will be going on tour with Subway to Sally and Letzte Instanz in December, before embarking on their own national tour in January and February, 2012.

On April 28, 2011 Megaherz announced that Christoph "Chris" Klinke, from "Constant Visions" was the bands new Rhythm Guitarist.

Announced on their official website on May 24, 2011 Megaherz will release their new album Licht der Welt on October 14, 2011, But on August 20th, 2011 it was announced that the release date for the new album has been moved to early December. 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.

Announced on the bands official website on September 22, 2011 Megaherz have moved the release date for the new album to January 20th, 2012 in order to release a single first.

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)
• Matthias "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

• 1995: Herzwerk (demo album)
• 1997: Wer Bist Du?
• 1998: Kopfschuss
• 2000: Himmelfahrt (#78 in Germany)
• 2002: Herzwerk II (#78 in Germany)
• 2004: 5
• 2008: Heuchler (#31 in Germany)
• 2012: Licht der Welt

Remix albums

• 2010: Loblieder

Singles

• 1997: "Gott sein"
• 1998: "Rock Me Amadeus"
• 1998: "Liebestöter"
• 1999: "Freiflug" (#7 in German alternative charts)
• 2000: "Himmelfahrt"
• 2002: "Herzblut"
• 2004: "Gott Sein '04" (non-physical release)
• 2004: "Dein Herz Schlägt" (non-physical release)
• 2008: "Mann von Welt"
• 2011: "TBA"

Extended plays

• 2007: "Freiflug EP: The early years (1996-2000)"
• 2008: "Mann von Welt EP"

Rereleases

• 2002: Herzwerk
• 2005: Wer Bist Du? (U.S.)
• 2005: Kopfschuss (U.S.)
• 2005: Himmelfahrt (U.S.)
• 2006: 5 (U.S.)
• 2008: Herzwerk II (U.S.)

Compilation albums

• 2001: Querschnitt
• 2009: Totgesagte Leben Länger

References

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

External links

• Official English website
• Official German website
• Megaherz on Myspace