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.
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.
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.
in: Wikipédia
Discografia:
* Mein Weg 2004
* Suicide Radio 2003
* Schatten aus der Alexander Welt 2001
* Profane Fetmilch Lenzt Elf Krank 2000
* Reflektionen aufs Sterben 1998
* Sardonischer Untergang im Zeichen irreligiöser Darbietung 1998
* Dictius Te Necare 1996
* Dark Metal 1994
* Thy Pale Dominion 1993
Sites:
Myspace
Videos:
Bethlehem - Tagebuch Einer Totgeburt
Bethlehem - Boneyard of disillusion (live 93)
Bethlehem - Tod Ist Weicher Stuhl In Gar Fleischlos' Gift
Bethlehem - Suicide Radio
Bethlehem - Supplementary Exegesis (live 93)
Já tive o dvd deste concerto, mas não me lembro a quem o emprestei...
Será que há por ai mais fãs??
