Crematory

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History:
Once upon a time...
...A different way to tell the tale of a band. Let us ask ourselves: How did it really happen? How did the band get to this prestigious stage? Where are the crucial turning points that brought the band to the momentary position? Knowing the answers to the questions isn't the equivalent of knowing the band history: It rather means diving into the music to reach a deeper identification in the recognition of musical personalities and their development in music.
1991
How did it happen for Crematory. How did the band develop to that what they are today - Germany's foremost later the line-up was completed: Singer Felix and bassist Marc joined the formation and a year later their first and only demo tape saw the light of day. The tape had formidable response with the press and especially the fans. Not only did the tape sell considerably well in Germany but found a huge acceptance abroad showing in worldwide sales of 1500. The first contacts to record labels were made at this time.
1992
Several concerts in all of Germany were completed where keyboard player Katrin, only a guest musician on their legendary demo tape, was integrated more and more and finally became a full blown member of Crematory. November 1992 saw the contract signing with Massacre Records. The first dream of every band, the record deal, was fulfilled.
1993
Highly motivated, Crematory started the recording of their debut album "Transmigration" in January of 1993 with their new bassist Heinz in the Commusication Studios with the release date set for May 1993. The debut was received very well: one month after release it established itself in the readers charts of various magazines. The thriving sales and positive reactions secured them the support role on the My Dying Bride tour of November 1993. A noteworthy achievement for a newcomer band! Before the tour in September of 1993 Heinz was replaced by an old friend, Harald, with whom they had already played together in the past.
1994
In January 1994, Crematory started the recording sessions for their follow-up "...just dreaming". Crematory had found their "ruche at this point."...just dreaming" was released in May 1994 and showed Crematory with their first musical highpoint. Especially "Shadows of mine" with its German refrain became a huge hit! This album also established itself over a longer period in readers charts and it started to show that Crematory had a huge fanbase with an overt love affection for the band.
"Shadows of mine" and "In my hands" had accompanying videos in March of 1994 with rotation on both MTV and VIVA. Between April and September of 1994 Crematory played several clubgigs with support roles for name acts like Tiamat and Atrocity highlighting this period.
1995
The breakthrough came with the third album "Illusions", once again recorded in Commusication Studios in June 1995 and brewing up a storm before its official release in September. Expectations were very high after the first two albums, this anticipation was exceeded by a long way: Crematory succeeded in finding a new hit with "Tears of time. A lavish video was recorded for the song in August 1995 finding huge approval amongst TV stations. Immediately after the release of "Illusions" diverse interviews and reviews as well as the entrance of several magazine charts revealed how great the third Crematory release was accepted, not only by the fans. Several concerts and festivals ensued.
1996
The success story of the band to date wasn't a reason to rest upon their laurels. December 1995 saw the return to the studio to begin recording for a new album. But this time under a different sign. The firm intention of the band to constantly change and develop itself not only culminated in the music but the lyrics as well. A new album simply titled "Crematory with its lyrics written and sung in German was released in May 1996. The best sales to date heaved Crematory to headlinerstatus like at the Out of the dark festivals in March 1996. The album went straight into the charts despite all the bad press it received. The contract with Massacre Records was fulfilled with the release of the album.
Live recordings were filmed at the Out of the dark festivals for release on video as was the promo video for "Ist es wahr. Various concerts were played on this festival tour for example in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. At the end fo the festival, which had Moonspell and the Gathering as support, Crematory found that some of the DAT recordings they had made over several concerts were in excellent sound qualitiy. Thereupon they visited Commusication studios and mastered and cut the recordings with their producer Gerhard Magin to finalise their fist live album. Before signing with a new label, Crematory founded their own label (CRC- Crematory's Record Company) and released the CD in conjunction with a live video. After their contract fulfilment with Massacre Records and the set up of their own company.
1997
Crematory found a competent partner in Nuclear Blast who, with the release of "Awake, would bring Crematory to unknown heights.
The band delivered a brilliant piece of melodic Gothic - Metal after their legendary predecessors. "Awake went straight into the German album charts at N.54. For the first time in band history they had recorded a cover version with the Sisters of Mercy's "Temple of love. The song established itself in the clubscene and was destined to be a hit. Crematory confirmed their status with the fans and press alike that they belonged to the leading Gothic-Metal acts around.
A headliner tour in 3 blocks through all of Europe compromising festivals and open airs followed.
1999
Europe's leading Gothic Metal formation returned on February 8th, 1999 with their single "Fly that immediately became a sensational club hit. There is no more accurate title for the album than "Act Seven because it marks the seventh album in as many years as the band exists and furthermore is the biggest step forward that Crematory has ever made.
The most significant step of the band existance was the parting of founding member and guitarist Lotte. The new masterpiece was recorded as usual in Commusication studios under the custody of producer Gerhard Magin and arranger Gernot Leiner (Century) from September to December 1998. The sound is tougher and more distinct than on the preceeding albums.
The new inspiration and development are immediately audible with Crematory sounding fresher and more motivated then ever before which in part lies on new guitarist Matthias Hechler who had songwriting credits and had his influence on the new album.
Another big step forward is the collaboration with guest vocalists Michael Rohr (Century), Kalle Friedrich (Giants Causeway) and Lisa Mosinski (Dark) who achieved an exceptional accomplishment without drifting into "poppy fields.
Together with new elements, aggressive guitar sounds, accentuated keyboard lines and hymnic refrains, "Act Seven contains all typical Crematory features that brought them the crown they now wear so well. With the release of "Act Seven Crematory has delivered an album full of melody, straightness and roughness that will have a longtime effect on the scene.
"Act Seven" charted at position 46 of the german album charts and is their best selling album to date.
Various Open-Air concerts and festivals were played as well as a headliner tour to promote the album in May and June 99'. Crematory were able to win over many new fans with "Act Seven". They also received very good reviews in all Metal, Gothic/Wave and Alternative Magazines.
1999
To shorten the long wait for a new album and to satisfy the demand for a Greatest Hits CD. Crematory decided to release a sompilation of their successes in form of a Best of... 3-CD Box. An incomparable Best of... Album was released with "Early Years". It's released as a lavish 3-CD Box with all the hits of the early years, newly mixes and digitally remastered as well as specially made remixes of the hits by renowned remixers.
Bruno Kramm (Das Ich), Raymond Boye' (Scooter, U 96, Culture Beat), DJ God (Camouflage, Die Fantastischen Vier) und KK among others were engaged to give the Crematory-hits a new flavor and create new club hits in the going. A special bonus in form of a CD-Rom is included on "Early Years" showing the videoclips for "Tears of time", "Shadows of mine", "Ist es wahr" and "In my hands".
2000
On their ninth album Believe that was released in September 2000, Crematory built themselves a monument. The musical progress that started on Act 7 was clearly audible. Hardness, melody and accessibility were the elements that Crematory used in better ways than ever. This resulted in smash-hits like The Fallen that ruled the dance floors.
Not only by means of his guitar, but also with his vocal talent, Matthias who took over singing the clean vocals on Believe , knew extremely well how to use it. The big picture of the album was completed by the excellent production.
Accompanying the single "The Fallen", a very professional Video was produced; sadly it only got a very limited and short rotation on TV.
Nevertheless, the faithfulness and belief of the Crematory fans again was the force behind the album "Believe" climbing up to Number 34 on the German album charts. This even surpassed the already great chart success of the previous album Act Seven.
2001
In February of 2001 the 10th anniversary of the band was celebrated by doing an extensive tour for Believe that included all of the old hits.
The probably hardest decision for the band came at the end of the Anniversary Tour. For health, financial and personal reasons, the band decided to say goodbye to the life on the road and the stage.
As a thank you to the fans it was decided to still play 10 carefully chosen concerts throughout the summer. Of course the concert at Wacken was one of the highlights. Crematory was frenetically celebrated and lots of tears were wept because everyone knew that it all would be over now and it was Time for Tears.
At the end of July the time came. Remind was the title of the 10th and final release of a band that has become Europes leading Gothic metal band over the last 10 years. The recordings for this CD were done on the anniversary tour that took place in February 2001. Crematory not only was able to transmit the sensational atmosphere of a live concert on CD including all the hits but also allowed us a very intimate look in their complete band history on the accompanying VHS or DVD. Included are all videos as well as loads of backstage and studio footage in vision and sound.
2002
A comeback was never planned and nevertheless the unexpected happened in August 2002. Nuclear Blast got in touch with CREMATORY and asked whether the band would like to contribute a song for the Metallica tribute album "The Four Horseman". This was considered a good thing and a new challenge on for the band to simply go into the studio just for fun and make music again, and thus CREMATORY covered the song "One" by the largest metal band in the world, Metallica, who had a substantial influence on all band members in the past.
2003
The coverversion received sensational feedback from the fans and the press alike because nobody expected to hear from CREMATORY in this form. With the release of the tribute album the matter was finished for the band, till one day in January 2003, something absolutely unexpected happened. A telephone call from the Nuclear Blast boss, asking the band to please record a regular CREMATORY album again. After a first refusal followed by a good deal of thought, as well as some concessions on part of Nuclear Blast , CREMATORY were convinced to tackle a comeback.
In January 2003 the band began, whenever time and desire were abundant, with the writing of new songs. This was a stipulation of CREMATORY towards Nuclear Blast. To not have to release an album almost annually and go on tour to promote the disc. CREMATORY would like to carry on as a hobby and merely make music when time and a longing are at hand. The band realized that something very important was missing in their lives during their 3 years hiatus.
The recording for the new album "Revolution" began completely different than in the past during October 2003, in a small but very finely equipped studio in the "Kohlekeller Tonstudio" which lies in the heart of the Odenwald and is operated by a good friend of the band. CREMATORY have taken production into their own hands with help from arranger Kristian "Kohle" Kohlmannslehner.
In the midst of the recording and a few days after the new video clip to "Greed" was shot, the studio visit was interrupted due to the premature birth of Katrin's and Markus daughter Janina. Thus the originally planned release date of 01.03.2004 for the album could not be kept. Since more than half of the album was finished, the band decided to pre-release the single "Greed" with the pertinent video and the maxi-version as well as the coverversion of "One" and a new ballad with the title "Farewell Letter" on the original album date.
2004
"Greed" was not only announced as being a hit-single, it rather quickly became one in reality. This was the first time in the bands history that CREMATORY was able to get a record in the German top 100 single charts. *Greed* reached Number 86, and that was proof that fans have been missing CREMATORY and the band was still top of the bill.
Then on 03.05.04 the day finally came. Germany’s leading Gothic-Metal band released their comeback-album. “Revolution” was not only the title of this album, but the songs on the album were themselves revolutionary. This was the first time in the band’s history that the keyboards were programmed with strong elements of Dance-Trance and EBM. What seemed a very bold move at the beginning soon turned out to be exactly the right thing to do. With this new and fresh sound CREMATORY gained a lot of new fans and achieved a high level of well deserved respect with hits songs like "Greed" and "Tick Tack", the latter even serving as a soundtrack in the movie "Con Game".
A lot of concerts were played throughout Europe. A considerable amount of concerts were played in Greece and Russia, both countries that have never before had any interest in the band. So the goal of gaining new fans was achieved and the band enjoyed playing as many and as successful gigs.
During the whole tour and the special comeback-shows for the album "Revolution" cameras were brought along and used extensively. Also, the official comeback-concert on the Wave-Gothic-Meeting 2005 in Germany, was filmed with 10 cameras and was recorded separately for audio.
2005
Crematory wanted to let all their fans witness the impressive worldwide reception of the tour, and decided to release a DVD/CD package containing a live documentary and live footage in September of 2005 on CRC, the bands own record label. The overwhelmingly good number of sold units of the live documentary called *Liverevolution* again proved that the fans hadn’t lost interest in the Band at all, but the contrary was the case. CREMATORY are more popular and bigger than ever before. CREMATORY were and still are Germany’s No.1 Gothic Metal Band.
In January of 2005 CREMATORY began writing new songs, which didn’t turn out so easy in the beginning. Because of the sensational comeback album, the stakes were now as high as never before, so the band has come up with something really special. As this is going to be a surprise, nothing can be revealed about it now, but it is sure going to be the bomb! This much can be promised!
2006
What do you have to say about CREMATORY, Germany’s most succesful Gothic Metal band ever? After taking a creative break of 3 years they’ve returned with their Comebackalbum „Revolution“ in 2004 returning to the Olymp of Rock music cementing their leading role in the genre.
The first Single release „Greed“ from the just mentioned album, popped straight into the German Media Control Charts and thereby marked the first Single chartentry in the bands’ history. With the „Revolution“ album, which charted Top 50 in Germany straight after it´s release as well, the band proved with outstanding salesfigures that CREMATORY was not only able to mobilise their fanbase but winning numerous new supporters with their unmistakeable sound.
Strictly speaking Crematory's comeback should take place as a „hobby-band“ but at the time being every member had to pull back from the music due to family-, job- or timemanagement reasons. CREMATORY came together again because they just wanted to share their love and fun for music one more time - but the overwhelming success took every chance of them to take various breaks and slow down a little bit in business performance.
It became crystal clear that CREMATORY did not only restart at the point where they’ve stopped, but that the estimated freighttrain turned at the speed of light into a “Bullet-Train”. Being creative musicians powered by passion CREMATORY were pushed by this kind of adrenalinerush. And so the hitfactory CREMATORY is running faster and more successful than ever before.
The remarkable issue is that CREMATORY gained worldwide success not limited on the Germanspeaking territories - followed by innumerable interviews and concerts where CREMATORY hailed by their fans. This has been captured in the comebackdocumentary part of the DVD/CD-package „Liverevolution“, which was released by the band in autumn 2005 on their own label CRC which owns the complete backcatalogue of CREMATORY as well.
After the record deal with Nuclear Blast had been terminated with „Revolution“ the band decided to return to Massacre Records, who had released the first four albums of Crematory's career.
Back in 1996 CREMATORY established themselves as genrepioneers, as the release of “Crematory – das deutsche Album“ was not only praised but criticized. Nevertheless the band consequently proceeded it´s way onwards and a German song has been presented on nearly every album since. It was clear that after 15 years of CREMATORY there has to be a special present for the fans and so the band decided to give the fans what they’ve been yelling for the last 10 years: A new german album!
As the lyrics of the new album deal with very personal topics and experiences of daily human life, „Klagebilder“ features musical progress in perfection. A massive, uncomparable sound-wall combined with spheric and modern keyboardsounds. The production was taken care of CREMATORY themselves with the assistance of producer Christian "Kohle" Kohlmannslehner while keeping a more precise focus on a distinguishable guitarwork.
"Klagebilder" is an album with the expected amount of smashers with eardrilling refrains and clubhits to dance to, demonstrating that the hitfactory CREMATORY is without doubt powered by high voltage.
Crematory - Greed video (2004)
Crematory - Revolution video (2004)
Crematory - The Fallen video (2000)
Crematory - I Never Die (Live)
"Believe in you and specially in Crematory"