* 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.
Tor Zur Hölle
Das Ich Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ein Meer aus Fleisches Lust und Seelenqual
Ein Hauch von Angst hängt in der Luft
Die reine Liebe ist hier blanke Lust
Die Venen starr von Leid
Zum Töten ist man hier bereit
Ich sehne mich nach Blut und Lust
Scham und Eitelkeit
Ein Spiel auf Zeit
Die Würfel fallen
Das Herz steht still und schweigt
Die Seele tanzt auf Glut
Auf ewiglich der Menschenfeind
Tor zur Hölle Tor zum Wahnsinn
Tor zur Vielgestalt und Zorn
Tor zur Hölle Tor zum Wahnsinn
Tor zu reiner Lichtgestalt
Tor zu Hölle Tor zum Wahnsinn
Tor zu Ideal und Hass
Tor zur Hölle Tor zum Wahnsinn
Tor zu meiner Ewigkeit
The lyrics to "Tor Zur Hölle" by Das Ich describe the journey of the singer through a dark valley filled with lustful and tortured souls. The air is thick with a sense of fear as the singer navigates through the sea of flesh, surrounded by a stark contrast between the desire for love and the reality of carnal desires. The veins of the tortured are frozen with pain and they are ready to kill at any moment. The singer himself longs for blood and lust, surrounded by destruction and decay, playing a game with time. The dice are cast and his heart stands still as he watches his soul dance on burning coals. The song climaxes with the opening of the gates of Hell, revealing the infinite dark possibilities of madness, violence, and idealistic hate, leading to the singer's ultimate embodiment of eternity.
The lyrics of this song can be interpreted in a number of ways. At its core, it seems to be a commentary on the nihilistic and destructive aspects of human nature, the never-ending cycle of desire and suffering, the duality of light and dark within each individual, and the slippery slope towards violent tendencies. Some have suggested that the song is a critique of the hedonistic and pleasure-seeking culture of modern society, while others have interpreted it as a warning against the dangers of surrendering oneself to the darker impulses of the human psyche.
Line by Line Meaning
Ich schreite durch das finstre Tal
I walk through the dark valley
Ein Meer aus Fleisches Lust und Seelenqual
A sea of fleshly desire and torment of the soul
Ein Hauch von Angst hängt in der Luft
A whisper of fear lingers in the air
Die reine Liebe ist hier blanke Lust
Pure love here is nothing but lust
Die Venen starr von Leid
The veins are rigid from suffering
Zum Töten ist man hier bereit
Here, one is ready to kill
Ich sehne mich nach Blut und Lust
I long for blood and desire
Ein Meer von Kot der Götter
A sea of the gods' filth
Scham und Eitelkeit
Shame and vanity
Ein Spiel auf Zeit
A game against time
Die Würfel fallen
The dice are cast
Das Herz steht still und schweigt
The heart is still and silent
Die Seele tanzt auf Glut
The soul dances on fire
Auf ewiglich der Menschenfeind
Forever the enemy of man
Tor zur Hölle Tor zum Wahnsinn
Gate to hell, gate to madness
Tor zur Vielgestalt und Zorn
Gate to variety and wrath
Tor zu reiner Lichtgestalt
Gate to pure luminous form
Tor zu Hölle Tor zum Wahnsinn
Gate to hell, gate to madness
Tor zu Ideal und Hass
Gate to ideal and hate
Tor zu meiner Ewigkeit
Gate to my eternity
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind