* In 1989, the band released the demo CD "Satanische Verse" and after another year their debut album "Die Propheten" on Bruno Kramm's own label, Danse Macabre.
Das Ich skillfully mixed electronic, symphonic and early industrial elements into an explosive cocktail unprecedented in the often cliche ridden German music culture. Das Ich established itself with a fixed position in the scene and became the very epitome of experimental and electronic music.
They are celebrated as the starting spark of a new genre of post wave, post Kraftwerk, post Neubauten era, and successfully led the way in the charts of the independent scene. Tours all over Europe strengthened the position of Das Ich, who quickly got a reputation for being "apocalyptic eccentrics", since their concerts appear to be evil and bone-jarring spectacles.
* After the release of their maxi CD "Stigma" in 1993, Das Ich went off on an extended tour through all of Europe and the U.S., and in addition played at various festivals, for example the Peter Gabriel WOMAD in Hamburg, as well as at the Documenta in Kassel.
* After that followed what up to now is their most compressed work as well as their least accessible, "Staub". Its success underpined their precedence. Released right at Christmas time, "Staub" was on the waiting list of the German Media Control Charts for 11 weeks.
It took about 2 years to create this work, in which both the innovation that characterized their debut, and modern industrial-elements (comp. "Das Ich im Ich") were amalgamated. Harsh noise-loops bedded into symphonic arrangements and combined thematically with the Holocaust of self-contempt in modern human society rendered "Staub" a milestone for electronic music of the nineties. 8 tracks, which catapulted Das Ich to international significance and which carried on the importance of the German industrial-electro-scene. With "Staub" Das Ich played a tour containing more than 60 shows whole over the world. "Staub" was also released domestically in the USA on the Californian label Tess Records, ran by William Faith of Faith and the Muse, while "Die Propheten" was re-released on Black Orchid Records from Miami.
* After the band recruited the drummer Chad Blinman on the U.S. tour, Das Ich grew into a genuine live band. In 1995 they put the live album "Feuer" out on the market to question the term "canned music", which all electronic bands have to deal with sooner or later.
* Immediately after that, a project done together with the famous metal band "Atrocity" was released. The album "Die Liebe" was a successful attention-getter for both bands and is still numbered among the first representatives of the successful metal/gothic crossover movement of the time.
Until today, many of these crossover bands refer to this album as initial innovation and influence.
* At the end of 1996 Das Ich began the early work on their new album "Egodram".
* However, the work had to be interrupted for half a year in order to compose the soundtrack album "Das Innere Ich" for the underground movie "Das Ewige Licht". After a further successful tour in the U.S. in May of 1997 with the new drummer Jakob Lang, the work on "Egodram" could finally begin again and be completed at the end of 1997. While all the previous releases appeared on the Danse Macabre label, Das Ich decided in the summer of 1997 to sign a worldwide recording contract with Edel Records for "Egodram".
* The first single "Kindgott" which was out taken from the new album was released in December 1997.
* In February 1998 the successful "Egodram" album and the second single "Destillat" with a stunning videoclip, directed by the wellknown Qfilm company, were released.
* From March to April 1998 Das Ich toured Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In May they played the International Wave Gothik Treffen in Leipzig.
* After touring for the first time Spain and Mexico they finished the work on their literal work in June, "Morgue" which features songs to the poems of the famous German expressionist writer "Gottfried Benn" in an extreme diversity which brought them also a fantastic feedback from cultural institutions whole over Europe. In November 98 Das Ich toured France and Germany again to present some of their new songs.
* In 1999 it was time to celebrate ten years of Das Ich with "Re_Laborat" and the big USA Totentanz Tour 99. This album was a successful hit on the dance floor. It offers various remixes from well-known bands like Deine Lakaien, Atrocity, VNV Nation, And One and many others. The smashing dance floor hit "Destillat", remixed by VNV Nation became a club hymn for the summer of 2000 worldwide. The dark romantic track "Reanimat", only available on a limited double CD was transferred to a videoclip, directed by Hans Helmut HдЯler, with whom the band worked on "Das Ewige Licht" before. "Re_Laborat" was also brought to France on XIII Bis Records domestically, while their online archives www.dasich.de found birth on the internet.
* *In 2003 "Das Ich" released a double CD box, a Best Of called "Relikt" with a 48 page booklet. They also toured again the USA and Russia for the first time with a tremendous effort and success.
*In the middle of the burning summer 2004, Das Ich released their breathtaking new album, called Lava which focuses on emotional issues. For the first time in the bands outspanning history, love, hate, greed and other human feelings struggle against the ratio, the understanding of the human being. It is the fight of the Freudian "Es" (it) against the moral "Ich" (Ego)
* In 2006 Das Ich released Cabaret, a gothic album based on theatrics.
* In 2008 Das Ich released the EP Kannibale, which they call their harshest and most brutal endeavour yet.
Fluch
Das Ich Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tag und Nacht begannen mit der Schlacht, um zwölf Stunden Vorherrschaft.
Doch dessen nicht Gewalt genug, erfand das Leben gleich den Mensch.
Gab ihm dieselbe Lebenskraft, und verbot sich selbst die Freiheit.
Da begann das Wort.
Die Zeit im dunklen Mutterleib,
Erzählt mir heute von dem Schwur,
von damals als die Zeit begann.
Kein Mensch im großen Teiche schwamm
und die Wut noch nicht geboren war,
als das Leben frisch begonnen hat.
Sich selbst noch keiner Schuld bewusst.
Da begann der Streit.
Der Streit ums Leben brennt mich aus,
er raubt mir jede Energie.
Der Kampf um Wahrheit frisst mich auf,
er stranguliert die Phantasie.
Ich bin verflucht, ich bin allein,
ich will mein Blut nicht mit Dir teilen.
Ich bin gequält, ich bin verwest,
ich will, dass Leben von mir geht.
The lyrics of Das Ich's song Fluch speak of a conflict that began with the union of two lives, giving birth to envy and anger. Day and night became a battlefield, with each side struggling for twelve hours of dominance. However, violence was not enough, and so Life gave birth to man, granting him the same life force but denying him the freedom that it had taken for itself. From this point on, the word became the weapon that both sides used in their conflict.
The lyrics also allude to the time of creation, when life had just begun and there was no anger or conflict. The singer longs for that time when life was simple and without guilt or blame. The conflict that has consumed him drains his energy and suffocates his imagination. He feels cursed and alone, and wishes to be free of the burden of life.
Line by Line Meaning
Als sich das erste Mal zwei Leben trafen, ist die Wut entbrannt, gebar den Neid.
When two lives met for the first time, anger arose and gave birth to envy.
Tag und Nacht begannen mit der Schlacht, um zwölf Stunden Vorherrschaft.
Day and night began with a battle for twelve hours of dominance.
Doch dessen nicht Gewalt genug, erfand das Leben gleich den Mensch.
But that was not enough power, so life created humans with the same life force and self-imposed limitations on freedom.
Gab ihm dieselbe Lebenskraft, und verbot sich selbst die Freiheit.
Life gave humans the same life force and prohibited itself from having freedom.
Da begann das Wort.
That's when words started to be used.
Die Zeit im dunklen Mutterleib, war stiller als die Ewigkeit.
The time in the dark womb was quieter than eternity.
Erzählt mir heute von dem Schwur, von damals als die Zeit begann.
Tell me today about the oath from back when time began.
Kein Mensch im großen Teiche schwamm und die Wut noch nicht geboren war, als das Leben frisch begonnen hat.
No one swam in the vast pond, and anger had not yet been born when life began.
Sich selbst noch keiner Schuld bewusst.
Not even aware of their own guilt.
Da begann der Streit.
That's when the argument started.
Der Streit ums Leben brennt mich aus, er raubt mir jede Energie.
The argument over life burns me out, it takes away all my energy.
Der Kampf um Wahrheit frisst mich auf, er stranguliert die Phantasie.
The fight for truth devours me, it strangles my imagination.
Ich bin verflucht, ich bin allein, ich will mein Blut nicht mit Dir teilen.
I am cursed, I am alone, I do not want to share my blood with you.
Ich bin gequält, ich bin verwest, ich will, dass Leben von mir geht.
I am tormented, I am decaying, I want life to leave me.
Contributed by Sophie E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.