Bethlehem (German band)

Bethlehem
Origin	Grevenbroich, Germany
Genres	Black metal, black/doom, avant-garde metal, gothic metal
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Red Stream Inc
Associated acts	Pavor Deinonychus
Members	Yvonne "Onielar" Wilczynska Ilya Karzov Jürgen Bartsch Florian "Torturer" Klein

Bethlehem is a German heavy metal band from Grevenbroich, formed in 1991 by Jürgen Bartsch and Klaus Matton. Before starting Bethlehem, Bartsch and Matton used to play in a German thrash metal band Morbid Vision. Many of their lyrics revolve around sickness, morbidity, suicide, death and madness, and may to some extent be personal to the band.

Bethlehem was formed by Jürgen Bartsch in 1991. They recorded a few demos in the early 90s before releasing their debut album "Dark Metal" in 1994, which featured Andreas Classen on vocals. On their second full-length album Dictius Te Necare (Latin: You must/should kill yourself), Classen was replaced with Rainer Landfermann on vocals (known as the bass player in the German death metal band Pavor). Landfermann's vocals were particularly extreme, described by critics and fans alike as "one of the sickest and most extreme voices you'll ever hear from a human being". On S.U.I.Z.I.D. his place is taken by Marco Kehren from the band Deinonychus. Guido Meyer de Voltaire, the vocalist from Schatten aus der Alexanderwelt and Mein Weg, is also well-known with his band Aardvarks. Andreas Classen, vocalist on Dark Metal also did vocals for Shining, Dark Creation (German band), Paragon Belial, Made of Iron, Kadathorn, Darkened Nocturn Slaughtercult. Over the years Bethlehem modernized their style and so the early black and doom metal influences are now hardly present, the band favouring a more Neue Deutsche Härte (New German Hardness) and electronic approach. In 1998 Bethlehem collaborated on the soundtrack for the American underground movie Gummo with the tracks "Schuld Uns'res Knöcherigen Faltpferds" and "Verschleierte Irreligiösität".

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