After many musical experiments, Stefan Ackermann (voices and lyrics) and Br… Read Full Bio ↴After many musical experiments, Stefan Ackermann (voices and lyrics) and Bruno Kramm (instruments, music) decided to form Das Ich in 1989.

* 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.

Krieg Im Paradies
Das Ich Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Der Atem erstickt die Luft gefriert
die Sonne wird schwarz der Mond blutrot
die Erde speit Lava in alle Winde aus
die Vögel am Himmel ein einz´ger Feuerball
das Meer speit schäumend Kadaver aufs Land
die Sterne stürzen ab, bersten Städte auf
die Wälder und Wiesen - alles brennt
Blitz und Donner schmelzen den Fels

Seht unsre Mütter gebären die Dämonen!
Seht unsre Väter dienen zum Fraß!
Seht unsre Kinder morden das Getier!

der Mensch versklavt des Teufels Untertan
die Krieger Gottes sind verhungert
die Priester Gottes sind gepfählt
die Stimme Gottes ist besiegt
die Allmacht Gottes ist gefallen

Gut und Böse ziehen in die Schlacht
Tod und Leben kämpfen um die Macht

Es ist Krieg I'm Paradies
Die Wächter der Liebe sind tot

Es ist Krieg I'm Paradies
Der Drache hat das Licht besiegt

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Das Ich's song Krieg Im Paradies depict a world in chaos and destruction. The imagery used in the lyrics is powerful and depicts a world that's being destroyed by natural disasters like the freezing of air, the darkening of the sun, the redness of the moon, lava spewing from the earth, and stars falling from the sky. The description of the birds turning into fireballs, the sea spewing corpses on land, and the forests and fields burning are some of the grave consequences of the war that has ensued. The verses also talk about how humans have become slaves to the devil, and the warriors and priests of God have been defeated in this war. The depiction of the battle between good and evil, and the struggle between life and death is also highlighted. The chorus constantly reminds us that the war is happening in paradise, and the guardians of love have died, the dragon has won, and the light has been defeated.

Overall, the song metaphorically depicts a world gone mad, where destruction has overcome creation. The lyrics seem to suggest that the war is internal and external, and the fight against oneself is as important as the fight against the external world. The warzone seems to be a paradise, which could be a metaphor for the human mind or an external world that was once idyllic but has since been corrupted.

Line by Line Meaning

Der Atem erstickt die Luft gefriert
Breath is gone and the air freezes

die Sonne wird schwarz der Mond blutrot
The sun turns black, the moon turns red

die Erde speit Lava in alle Winde aus
The earth spews lava in all directions

die Vögel am Himmel ein einz´ger Feuerball
Birds in the sky are a single fireball

das Meer speit schäumend Kadaver aufs Land
The sea foams and spits corpses on the land

die Sterne stürzen ab, bersten Städte auf
Stars fall and cities burst

die Wälder und Wiesen - alles brennt
Forests and meadows - everything burns

Blitz und Donner schmelzen den Fels
Lightning and thunder melt the rock

Seht unsre Mütter gebären die Dämonen!
See our mothers giving birth to demons!

Seht unsre Väter dienen zum Fraß!
See our fathers serving as food!

Seht unsre Kinder morden das Getier!
See our children killing animals!