Megaherz
Origin	Munich, Germany
Genres	Neue Deutsche Härte
Years active	1993 - present
Labels	ZYX Music (to 2000) Sony BMG (2002) S.A.D. Music (2004) ZYX Music (2008 to present)
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 Roland Vencelj
Former 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

For the unit of frequency, see megahertz.

Megaherz (English "Mega-heart", a pun on the homophone megahertz) is a Neue Deutsche Härte 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's early albums all included at least one song based on a classic German fairy tale. Examples include "Rapunzel" on the album Kopfschuss & "Windkind" ("Wind child") on Himmelfahrt & I.MRumpelstiltskin on Herzwerk II.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Alexx Wesselsky Era 1993-2002 1.2 Depature of Alexx and "5" 2002-2005 1.3 New Lead Singer and Heuchler 2005-present 2 Members 2.1 Current members 2.2 Former members 2.3 Timeline 3 Discography 3.1 Studio albums 3.2 Singles 3.3 Ep's 3.4 Re-releases 3.5 Compilation albums 4 References 5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Alexx Wesselsky Era 1993-2002

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.

Megaherz has gone through many changes in musical style since their founding. Their early works are a fairly dark alternative metal, comparable to American 90's bands such as Faith No More, whereas recent works are comparable to bands such as Oomph! and Rammstein. After Noel Pix joined the band as the 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"),1998. Followed by Himmelfahrt,2000 and Alexx Wesselsky's final album for the band Herzwerk II,2002.

[edit] Depature of Alexx and "5" 2002-2005

In October 2002, vocalist Alexx Wesselsky announced that he would be leaving the band due to creative differences, but he would finish the current tour. He officially left the band on January 1, 2003. He has since formed the group Eisbrecher with another former member, Noel Pix. In April of the same year, the remaining members announced they had found a new singer: Matthias "Jablonski" Elsholz of Twelve after Elf. Elsholz was already familiar to fans as his vocals had been briefly featured on the track Falsche Götter ("False Gods") from the album Himmelfahrt. In August 2003, Megaherz announced that they were looking for another vocalist, and by June 2004, a new album was under way. Shortly thereafter, a new song was 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" (Show me your face), from the album 5, which was released on 6 December 2004, and re-released in the USA by Eclipse Records on 21 February 2006.

[edit] New Lead Singer and Heuchler 2005-present

On September 23, 2005, it was announced that the rest of the tours for the year would be cancelled, as Matthias had left in a "total surprise" to the band. The reason was not given on the Megaherz homepage, but in the Eisbrecher forums Matthias announced he and his wife were expecting twins, and he wished to devote more time to his soon-to-be family.

On April 18, 2007, it was confirmed on Megaherz's official website that the band has found a new singer and is currently working on their sixth record. It was also stated that the band will tour while recording their new album.^[1]

By August 18 the new line-up has been finally announced and the website of the band relaunched. Lex Wohnhaas (from the band Seelenbrand) is the new singer. The position of drummer was taken by Jürgen "Bam Bam" from the band Bonfire, replacing Jürgen Zink. Lex had previously sung with Megaherz during a concert in Moscow just after Matthias had left.

The band has published demo versions of the songs "Ebenbild" and "Fauler Zauber" on the official website, officially announced the release of the new album Heuchler, which was released July 2008. After its release new album reached position #31 in German Album Charts, the highest chart entry of any Megaherz release to date.Summer Breeze Open Air Festival was perhaps the comeback show for megaherz in 2008 as they played in front of over 20,000 screaming fans.

The band performed at the Wave-Gotik-Treffen Festival in 2009. A new Compilation album was released in early March, 2009 titled Totgesagte Leben Länger (Those declared dead live longer, a line lifted from "Dein Herz Schlägt" on the album 5^[2]).

[edit] Members

[edit] Current members

• Alexander "Lex" Wohnhaas – Vocals (2007-)
• Christian "X-Ti" Bystron – Lead guitar (1997-),Programming (2002-)
• Werner "Wenz" Weninger – Bass (1997-)
• Jürgen "Bam Bam" Wiehler – Drums (2007-)
• Roland Vencelj – Rhythm guitar (2007-)

[edit] 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)
• 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)
• Tommy Eberhard - Drums (1997-1998)
• Tobias Trinkl – Drums (1995-1997)

[edit] Timeline

[edit] Discography

[edit] 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)

[edit] Singles

• 1997:"Gott sein"
• 1998:"Rock Me Amadeus"
• 1998:"Liebestöter"
• 1999:"Freiflug"
• 2000:"Himmelfahrt"
• 2004:"Gott sein '04" (non physical release)
• 2004:"Dein Herz schlägt" ( (non physical release)
• 2008:"Mann von Welt"

[edit] Ep's

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

[edit] Re-releases

• 2002:Herzwerk (Re-release)
• 2005:Wer Bist Du? (U.S. Re-release)
• 2005:Kopfschuss (U.S. Re-release)
• 2005:Himmelfahrt (U.S. Re-release)
• 2006:5 (U.S. Re-release)
• 2008:Herzwerk 11 (U.S. Re-release)

[edit] Compilation albums

• 2001:Querschnitt
• 2009:Totgesagte Leben Länger

[edit] References

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

[edit] External links

• Official German website
• Official English website
• Megaherz at MySpace