Unheilig (German for "Unholy") is a German band that draws from a variety of influences, including various

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

and

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductors * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic c ...

styles as well as heavier,

nihilistic Nihilism () encompasses various views that reject certain aspects of existence. There have been different nihilist positions, including the views that life is meaningless, that moral values are baseless, and that knowledge is impossible. Thes ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

. The band was founded in

Aachen Aachen is the List of cities in North Rhine-Westphalia by population, 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, 27th-largest city of Germany, with around 261,000 inhabitants. Aachen is locat ...

in 1999 and principally consisted of singer Bernd Heinrich "Der Graf" (the Count) along with various musical partners. He was accompanied for live shows by musicians Christoph "Licky" Termühlen, Henning Verlage, and Martin "Potti" Potthoff. The group's debut, ''

Phosphor A phosphor is a substance that exhibits the phenomenon of luminescence; it emits light when exposed to some type of radiant energy. The term is used both for fluorescent or phosphorescent substances which glow on exposure to ultraviolet or ...

'', came out in 2000.

History

Early years (1999–2009)

Bernd Heinrich Graf (a.k.a. "Der Graf", "''The Count''") founded Unheilig in 1999 with Grant Stevens (writer of "Everlasting Friends", a song featured in a German television commercial for Holsten Pilsener beer) and José Alvarez-Brill ( Wolfsheim,

Joachim Witt Joachim Witt (born 22 February 1949) is a German rock musician and actor who has been active since 1977. During his prolific 50-year career, Witt has released 20 studio albums and a further 8 compilation and live albums as a solo artist. Early i ...

, De/Vision). Their first single "

Sage Ja! Unheilig (German for "Unholy") is a German band that draws from a variety of influences, including various Pop music, pop and Electronic music, electronic styles as well as heavier, Nihilism, nihilistic hard rock. The band was founded in Aache ...

" (Say Yes!) was released on Bloodline Records in 1999. It entered the ''Deutsche Alternative Charts'' and became popular in night clubs. In February 2001 Unheilig's debut album "

" was published in Europe. Over the next few months, the band guested at major festivals and open-air events in Germany (Zillo Open Air,

Wave-Gotik-Treffen The (WGT; German for "Wave Gothic Meeting") is an annual world festival for "dark" music and "dark culture" in Leipzig, Germany. 150+ bands and artists from various backgrounds (gothic rock, Electronic body music, EBM, Industrial music, indust ...

Leipzig,

Doomsday Festival The Doomsday Festival was a two-day music festival held August 19–20, 2000 in music, 2000, at the Ostragehege in Dresden, Germany. The event featured a wide range of bands, but is best known as the occasion of Skinny Puppy's reunion concert, whic ...

, Woodstage Festival) before taking a break from live work to write and produce the Christmas album ''

Frohes Fest (German for "Merry Celebration" in relation to a Christmas celebration) is the second studio album released by the band Unheilig. It was released in 2002 in two versions, a standard one-disc edition and a limited two-disc edition (which include ...

'' (Merry Christmas) released in 2002 and the third album (The 2nd Commandment). In February 2003, the band toured eleven European cities as support to

L'Âme Immortelle L'Âme Immortelle (French for "the immortal soul") is an Austrian darkwave duo formed in 1996. Many of L'Âme Immortelle's songs feature melancholy or lovelorn lyrics in German or English, and juxtaposed harsh male and emotional female vocals. I ...

, and played songs from the album . Directly after the tour, the EP '' Schutzengel'' (Guardian Angel) was released, including four previously unreleased tracks. The band played in festivals during the summer. The

M'era Luna Festival The M'era Luna is a gothic festival that encompasses a number of different styles such as metal, future pop, aggrotech, synthpop, gothic rock, dark wave, and EBM. It is held annually on the second weekend of every August, in Hildesheim, ...

was one of the highlights for the band and the fans. Der Graf produced remixes for Absurd Minds,

Terminal Choice Terminal Choice was a German industrial rock band. It was formed by singer Chris Pohl (also of Blutengel, Tumor, Pain of Progress and owner of the Fear Section label) in 1993. History Their lyrics are sung in German and English. The sound wa ...

and other bands and produced a song for the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

game ''

Project Gotham Racing 2 ''Project Gotham Racing 2'' is a 2003 arcade-style racing video game developed by Bizarre Creations and published by Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft Game Studios. It was released exclusively for the Xbox (console), Xbox in November 2003 as the succe ...

''. Then the band started recording the album " Zelluloid". '' Zelluloid'' was released on 23 February 2004, and at the same time, the band toured with

. A fan vote organised by Unheilig chose the tracks for the EP ''Freiheit'', released 18 October 2004. Unheilig played more concerts in 2004 than any previous year. A live album ''Gastspiel'' was released on 31 January 2005. Six weeks before release of their DVD "''Kopfkino''" A mainstream music television channel ( VIVA Plus) broadcast an Unheilig song video for the first time – the video of "Freiheit". The album " Moderne Zeiten" (Modern Times) was released on 20 January 2006. The theme of the album is dreams. During 2007 the band played a small number of festivals including

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a Heavy metal music, heavy metal music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all ...

Amphi festival The Amphi Festival is a music festival that has been taking place since 2005 featuring a program of alternative, electronic music, and dark music. The number of visitors to the event in 2009 was 13,000 per festival day. The first Amphi Festival ...

and Burgrock Altena festival. In 2008, Unheilig released the album " Puppenspiel". It entered the

Media Control Charts The GfK Entertainment charts are the official charts for music, home video, and video games in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on be ...

at number 13. In 2008, they played at the (

M'era Luna The M'era Luna is a gothic festival that encompasses a number of different styles such as metal, future pop, aggrotech, synthpop, gothic rock, dark wave, and EBM. It is held annually on the second weekend of every August, in Hildesheim, ...

, Zita-Rock,

and Castle Rock) festivals. Later the band released their second DVD titled "Vorhang auf" ("Curtain Up"). In 2009, the band performed at the

Amphi Festival The Amphi Festival is a music festival that has been taking place since 2005 featuring a program of alternative, electronic music, and dark music. The number of visitors to the event in 2009 was 13,000 per festival day. The first Amphi Festival ...

Summer Breeze Open Air Summer Breeze Open Air is an annual German heavy metal music festival. It was first held in 1997. The festival had been held in Abtsgmünd until 2006 when it was moved to its new location of Dinkelsbühl, Bavaria. The festival draws around 40,00 ...

and the Rockharz Open Air festivals. On 3 July 2009, the albums

, , Zelluloid and Moderne Zeiten were released with new artwork and remastered audio. The Limited Edition versions of the albums that included extra songs were not re-released.

''Große Freiheit'' and ''Lichter der Stadt'' (2009–2013)

On 7 December 2009, the official Unheilig website received a major redesign to reflect the upcoming release of ''Große Freiheit'', including a three-minute trailer showcasing Der Graf with a suitcase playing "Das Meer", the very first song off the new album. On 14 January 2010, the first music video for their first single " Geboren um zu leben" (Born to Live) was posted on Unheilig's webpage. The single "Geboren um zu leben" was released on 29 January 2010 and debuted on the

at number two. The single also peaked on the

Austrian Singles Chart Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

at number eight. ''

Große Freiheit The Große Freiheit (German for: "Great Freedom") is a street starting on the North Side to Hamburg's Reeperbahn road in the St. Pauli quarter. It is part of the red-light district. History The street was named in 1610 after the fact that Co ...

'' was released on 19 February 2010 under

Vertigo Records Vertigo Records is a British record company. It was a subsidiary of the Philips/Phonogram record label, launched in 1969 to specialise in progressive rock and other non-mainstream musical styles. Today, it is operated by Universal Music Group#B ...

part of

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...

, with a tour following immediately. The new album would then go on to peak in the Media Control Charts at number 1, in Austria at number 2 and in Switzerland at number 3. The band performed at the Greenfield Festival in Switzerland on 12 June. The second single " Für immer" was released on 21 May & Peaked in the German Charts at No. 17. ''Große Freiheit'' would break records as the longest staying No. 1 album on the German Media Control Charts, staying at No. 1 for 23 non-consecutive weeks. This beats the old record set by

Herbert Grönemeyer Herbert Arthur Wiglev Clamor Grönemeyer (born 12 April 1956) is a German singer, musician, producer, composer and actor, popular in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Grönemeyer starred as war correspondent Lieutenant Werner in Wolfgang Peter ...

in 1988 with the album '' Ö'', which stayed at No. 1 for 14 weeks. The third single "

Unter deiner Flagge "Unter Deiner Flagge" (Under Your Flag) is the third single from Unheilig's album ''Grosse Freiheit Große or Grosse is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Aristid von Grosse (1905–1985), German nuclear chemist *Ben Gro ...

" was released on 24 September 2010 and peaked in the German charts at No. 13. On 1 October, the band performed the song "Unter deiner Flagge" at the

Bundesvision Song Contest The Bundesvision Song Contest (often shortened BSC or BuViSoCo) was a song competition held annually between the sixteen states of Germany. Created by German entertainer Stefan Raab and aired live on ProSieben, the show was loosely based on the ...

held at

Max-Schmeling-Halle Max-Schmeling-Halle is a multi-purpose arena, in Berlin, Germany, named after the famous German boxer Max Schmeling. Apart from Uber Arena and the Velodrom, it is one of Berlin's biggest indoor sports arenas and holds from 8,861 people, up to 12 ...

. As a result, they won the contest, beating other acts like Silly,

Ich + Ich Ich, ich or ICH may refer to: Places * Ich, Semnan, a village in Semnan Province, Iran * Ich, Zanjan, a village in Zanjan Province, Iran * Ich, alternative name of Ij, Zanjan, a village in Zanjan Province, Iran Medicine * The ego (German: ''Ic ...

and Blumentopf among others. "

Winterland Winterland Arena (more commonly known as Winterland) was an ice skating rink and music venue in San Francisco, California, United States. The arena was located at the corner of Post Street and Steiner Street. It was converted for exclusive use ...

" was released on 19 November 2010 as a fourth single from ''Große Freiheit'', as it was also a part of the "Große Freiheit (Winter Edition)" as a separate CD containing remixes. The single would then become Unheilig's third top ten single in Germany, peaking at No. 4. On 25 March 2011, Unheilig was nominated for five

ECHO Awards Echo Music Prize (stylised as ECHO, ) was an accolade by the , an association of recording companies of Germany to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The first ECHO Awards ceremony was held in 1992, and was set up to honor ...

(''Best Video National for Geboren um zu leben, ECHO Radio, Most Successful Production Team, Best National Rock/Alternative Group and Album of the Year for Große Freiheit''), eventually winning three. On 16 February 2011, Unheilig announced they were writing new material for their eighth album, ''Lichter der Stadt'' (''City Lights''), which was revealed to be a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

. The first single from ''Lichter der Stadt'', "So wie du warst", was released on 24 February 2012 while the album itself was released 16 March 2012. The second single "Lichter der Stadt" was released on 30 March 2012. The third single "Wie wir waren" was released on 31 August 2012. Unheilig will be releasing "Lichter Der Stadt: Winter Edition" on 23 November 2012. This new edition will feature the newly released song "Stark". On 18 January 2013, Unheilig released a 7-CD audiobiography titled ''Als Musik meine Sprache wurde''. The CD comes with six CDs full of Der Graf's musical journey from his earlier beginnings all the way up to his success with ''Große Freiheit'' and ''Lichter der Stadt''. The seventh CD is complete with 13 songs from his beginning days including ''Human Nations''.

''Gipfelstürmer'', ''Ein letztes Mal'' tour, and departure of Der Graf (2014–2016)

The band released their first best-of album titled ''Alles hat seine Zeit'' on 14 March 2014. It debuted on the

Media Control charts The GfK Entertainment charts are the official charts for music, home video, and video games in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on be ...

at number 2, the Austrian albums chart at number 3 and the Swiss albums chart at number 5. At the Rock the Ring Festival in Switzerland in June 2014, Unheilig played "Goldrausch", a track from their then-upcoming album ''Gipfelstürmer''. The first single from the album, "Zeit zu Gehen", was released on 31 October. The album ''Gipfelstürmer'' was released on 12 December 2014 and became the band's third consecutive album to reach number one on the Media Control Charts in Germany. The album also peaked at number two on the Swiss albums chart. Unheilig then went on tour to promote the new album, beginning 6 April 2015 in Vienna, Austria, at the Vienna Stadthalle and concluding on 20 February 2016 in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland at the Bodensee Arena. The band released a DVD entitled ''MTV Unplugged: Unter Dampf – Ohne Strom'' on 12 December 2015. The DVD would go on to earn the band an Echo Award nomination for Best Rock Band/Pop National in 2016. Unheilig embarked on their final tour as a band on 13 May, which finished on 10 September 2016 at the

RheinEnergieStadion RheinEnergieStadion, formerly Müngersdorfer Stadion () or Müngersdorfer Stadium, is a German football stadium in Cologne. It was built on the site of the two previous Müngersdorfer stadiums. It is the home of the local 2. Bundesliga team, ...

Megaherz Megaherz (German name meaning "Mega-heart", a pun on the homophone "Hertz, megahertz") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in Eichenau in 1993. Megaherz has gone through many changes in musical style since their founding. Their early ...

Staubkind Staubkind is a German rock band from Berlin, founded in 2004 by Sven Louis Manke (guitarist of Terminal Choice). Initially, Staubkind was a gothic rock act with a similar sound to other German bands like Zeraphine and Dreadful Shadows. Since the ...

, "Be One",

Schandmaul Schandmaul is a German medieval folk rock band from the Munich area. As well as using modern instruments such as the bass guitar, bass and electric guitar, the band also utilizes instruments typically used in Medieval folk songs such as the ba ...

and Megazwei were all supporting acts during the Ein Letzte Mal Tournee. Unheilig announced on 2 August 2016 that they would release their final album, ''Von Mensch zu Mensch'', on 4 November 2016. The first single from the album, also titled "Von Mensch zu Mensch", was released on 2 August. The second single "Ich würd' dich gern Besuchen" was released on 9 September. The third single, "Mein Leben ist die Freiheit", was released on 7 October.

Post-2016

''Von Mensch zu Mensch'' was nominated for ''Best Pop National'' at the 2017

. Since 2017, Unheilig has released various compilations and best-of albums starting with ''Best of Vol. 2 – Pures Gold'' in October 2017. Despite Der Graf's retirement, Unheilig will continue as a band without him.

Return (2025)

On February 6th, 2025, Der Graf has announced that Unheilig is back and will release a brand new album. A small tour will also take place at the end of 2025.

Band members

*Henning Verlage – keyboards, programming (2003–present) *Christoph "Licky" Termühlen – guitars (2002–present) *Martin "Potti" Potthoff – drums and percussion (2008–present) *Bernd "Der Graf" Heinrich Graf – vocals, programming (1999–present)

Awards and nominations

Contests

*2010

winner *

Unser Song für Dänemark Germany was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Is It Right", written by Elżbieta Steinmetz, Frank Kretschmer and Adam Kesselhaut, and performed by Elaiza. The German entry for the 2014 contest in Copenhagen, Denmark w ...

runner-up

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Singles

EPs

* 2002: '' Tannenbaum'' (as part of the ''Frohes Fest'' limited edition release) * 2003: '' Schutzengel'' (limited to 2,222 copies) * 2004: ''Freiheit'' * 2006: ''Astronaut'' (limited to 4,444 copies) * 2008: '' Spiegelbild'' (limited to 3,333 copies) * 2010: ''Winterland Special'' (as part of the ''Große Freiheit'' ''(Winter Edition)'' release) * 2010: ''Zeitreise'' (limited 10th anniversary tour-only release) * 2012: ''Lichtblicke'' (exclusive ''Lichter der Stadt'' tour CD)

DVDs

* 2005: ''Kopfkino'' (Germany #75) * 2008: ''Vorhang auf'' (Germany #3) * 2010: ''Sternstunde'' (only available during the ''Große Freiheit'' tour) * 2010: ''Große Freiheit Live'' (Germany No. 1, Gold) * 2012: ''Lichter der Stadt Live'' * 2015: ''Unter Dampf – Ohne Strom''

Music videos

Other CDs

* 2008: ''Schattenspiel'' (limited to 3,333 copies) * 2013: ''Als Musik meine Sprache wurde'' (7-CD audiobiography) * 2014: ''Alles hat seine Zeit – Best of 1999–2014'' (GER #2, AT#3, CH#5) * 2015: ''Gipfelkreuz'' (exclusive ''Gipfelstürmer'' tour CD) * 2016: ''Danke! – Ein letztes mal'' (live; exclusive ''Ein letztes Mal'' tour CD) * 2017: ''Best of Vol. 2 – Pures Gold'' (GER #2, AT #15, CH #15)

Re-releases

*2009: ''Phosphor'' *2009: ''Frohes Fest'' *2009: *2009: ''Zelluloid'' *2009: ''Moderne Zeiten'' *2011: ''Kopfkino''

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control German rock music groups German pop rock music groups German electronic music groups German industrial music groups German electronic rock musical groups German industrial metal musical groups German industrial rock musical groups German gothic rock groups German Neue Deutsche Härte music groups Musical groups established in 1999 1999 establishments in Germany