Golem

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Golem was founded in July 1989 by Max Grützmacher (bass), Michael Marschalk (drums) and Andreas Hilbert (guitars and vocals) at an age of 14 and 15 years respectively. With inspiration from bands like Napalm Death we began to rehearse, to write songs and to develop our own style.
In January 1991 we recorded our 1st demotape Visceral Scab with 4 tracks of intense old-school-grindcore mixed with some melodic and industrial influences. The tape became pretty popular in the underground and Michael Trengert of Nuclear Blast Records was interested in our stuff.
So he decided to release 2 tracks of the demotape as the Visceral Scab 7EP on Cannibalized Serial Killer Records.
Playing gigs with many different bands helped us to become a good live band and to learn much about realizing our musical imaginations. Also our style changed more into the extreme death metal direction, where bands like Carcass became a big influence in our music.
On July 29th 1992 a tragic event changed our lives and the life of Golem. Max and 2 good friends died in a car crash. It was a very hard time for us but despite that we decided to keep the band alive and to continue with Golem.
Jens Malwitz joined the band as a 2nd guitarist. Michael decided to leave the band a few months later and our old friend Ruben Wittchow of T.A.O.R. helped out with playing drums. A few weeks later Rico Spiller of Fermenting Innards offered to play bass in Golem and became a member of the band. With the new line-up we improved a lot with the songwriting and our musical abilities.
In June 1993 we recorded our 2nd demotape Recall the Day of Incarnation that marked a milestone in our musical development. It showed our ambitions to create a 100 percent intense musical unity with no limitations of poor clichés and we were really satisfied with the result.
But only a few weeks later another terrible accident deeply destroyed every feeling of happiness. On July 19th 1993 Jens died after a crash with his motorbike. It seemed like a cruel game of destiny and it was a hard decision to go on with Golem. But we knew that it would be the intention of the gone not to give up the band and the music we love.
We sent the tape to some record labels and got a good offer from Invasion Records where we signed a contract for 2 CDs.
We concentrated on working out new and better songs for our debut to make it as perfect as possible in the musical way. We were happy that Michael returned to Golem and we intensely prepared to go to the studio. After a number of delays we got a date at the Unisound Studio in Sweden so that we recorded Eternity- The Weeping Horizons in late August 1995. This record is an expression of the music we wanted to create and with the abilities of Dan Swanö we think it got the sound this music deserves. Released on Invasion Records in May 1996 another important step was done.
Unfortunately we had problems with the label and so we missed some chances to act in the intensity we would have preferred. So it came that Rico left the band and another time we had to look for new members to continue as a real band.
Until fall 1997 Golem merely was a two-piece studio project. In the meantime we worked on new material for the follower of Eternity... and checked the possibilities to get adequate musicians in the local area. Carsten Mai (guitar) and Rainer Humeniuk (bass) from Senftenbergs Progeria seemed to be the right addition to our sound and joined the band.
In July 1998 we finished the recordings for The 2nd Moon, our second full-length album and our most complex, intense and melodic work so far. Released on Ars Metalli in January 1999 we were on the right way into the future of Golem. Many live gigs helped to strengthen our good reputation in the scene and we also did a little tour.
But once more some precious time was lost because Michael ultimately decided to leave the band.
Now Eric Krebs from Berlins leading death-thrashers Sinners Bleed is hitting the drums. He does a really amazing job and we already consider him as a permanent member of the Golem family. Because of some other serious problems we had to split with our label Ars Metalli. So once again we were looking for a new company.
After extensive rehearsals and preproductions in 2001 and 2002 we checked some support offers for our succeeding projects. With Andy Siry of Grind Syndicate we found a competent partner in our request. Recording sessions during almost the whole year 2003 and a quite complicated mixing followed. But in the end we are more than pleased with the result and very happy that "Dreamweaver" was released on Nuclear Blast in April 2004. Driving our music into the outer regions of harmony and complexity, we gained a lot of confidence in our abilities and created an essential stimulation for the whole death-metal-concept.
Commercially seen "Dreamweaver" wasn't that great a success. Artistically? We do think so!
Despite dealing with the rather ignorant masses a lot of extremely enthusiastic and encouraging reactions prove us right in our choice for integrity. We still smile about all the pop music approaches in the scene. Our way is a difficult one but nevertheless fulfilling and promising.
Watch out for the Bartok experience in the upcoming decades;-)