SHAZAM

A German industrial/gothic rock band, Unheilig (which in German means "Unholy") formed in 1999 and quickly released their first single, "Sage Ja!," that same year. Initially signed to Bloodline records, the group (Grant Stevens, José Alvarez-Brill, and Der Graf) followed their debut club hit with a full-length offering in 2001 titled Phosphor. The success of the single and the album helped land the trio slots on their genre's festival circuit, including Zillo Open Air and the Doomsday Festival, but the band would soon find themselves back to work on new studio material, which resulted in 2002's Christmas album, Frohes Fest, and 2003's Das 2. Gebot. The band built on their momentum by releasing another EP in 2003, as well as taking their sound to the audiences of Europe, which led to remixing projects and appearances on video game soundtracks. Their fourth album, Zelluloid, was released in 2004, and the band followed this up with another successful tour, which led to the necessity of a live album. That collection, Gastspiel, hit shops at the start of 2005. A DVD release soon followed, and by 2006, Unheilig was back in the shops with not one but two releases -- a studio record, Moderne Zeiten, and a live offering, Goldene Zeiten. In 2008, Unheilig released their eighth album, Puppenspiel. Festival appearances and tours followed, and Puppenspiel got a re-release as a "touring edition" with bonus tracks.

In 2010, the band scored their first number one in their home country with Große Freiheit topping the German charts. Released the February of that year, it claimed the top spot for 23 non-consecutive weeks, a record for a German artist at the time. Große Freiheit was also made available as a "Fanbox Edition" boxset, which included a flag and a book written by Der Graf detailing the making of the album. A live album of the same name followed before Unheilig released Lichter der Stadt, which proved to be another hit in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. ~ Chris True, Rovi