Umbra et imago

Umbra et Imago
Mozart at the Nocturnal Culture Night festival in 2015
Background information
Origin	Karlsruhe, Germany
Genres	Gothic rock, gothic metal, dark wave, Neue Deutsche Härte
Years active	1991–present
Labels	Ausfahrt
Associated acts	Dracul
Website	umbraetimago.de
Members	Mozart Freddy Stürze Sascha Danneberger Madeleine Le Roy
Past members	Kris Jochen Ritter Chris Tin Torsten B. Matze B. Michael Gillian Achim Vogel Alex Perin Andi Lehnert Lutz Demmler Nail

Mozart
Freddy Stürze
Sascha Danneberger

Umbra et Imago (lt.: "Shadow and Image") is a German gothic metal and Neue Deutsche Härte band formed in autumn 1991. The original lineup consisted of singer Mozart (Manuel Munz), Michael Gillian, Nail and Torsten B. Except for Mozart all other founding members left the band, but he is still influential to the music of Umbra and Imago.

In 1991, Umbra et Imago were created as a side-project of The Electric Avantgarde. In the following year, the two bands were still existing alongside. There were plans for The Electric Avantgarde to change its style to death metal, but those were soon dropped. The band dissolved and was later reformed as Dracul so that Umbra et Imago became Mozart's main project.

In 1992 Umbra et Imago played their first stage shows, where visual effects played an important role. While the band's style was still dominated by electronic influences, there were frequent appearances of guest musicians such as Peter Heppner of Wolfsheim. The band began to develop an eccentric image and they were known for their fancy concerts . Umbra et Imago polarized critics and were even publicly criticized. In the same year, their album Träume, Sex und Tod was published, one year later Infantile Spiele was released.

As their album tracks often exceeded lengths of 10 minutes, they were unsuited for play in discothèques and were not included to DJs' programs. Because of that, Umbra et Imago created a remix of their song "Erotica" which they called ZöllerMussEsSpielen Mix (Zöller Must Play It Mix), referring to Michael Zöller, a resident DJ of Bochum's Zwischenfall discothèque. Despite its length, "Gothic Erotic" from the 1993 album Infantile Spiele remained the band's best known song.

In 1995, Michael Gillian and Torsten B. left the band, followed by Nail soon after. They were replaced by Lutz Demmler und Alex Perin. With the change in the line-up came a change in style. The music shifted towards guitar sounds and was expanded by hard rock elements on the album Gedanken eines Vampirs. This change was completed in 1996 with the album Mystica Sexualis, which was now Gothic metal. During live shows, the band would have fetish models on stage, founding their current stage concept. The 1997 maxi single Kein Gott und keine Liebe saw an increase in Neue Deutsche Härte elements and Umbra et Imago were compared to bands such as Rammstein.