Yvonne "Onielar" Wilczynska Ilya Karzov Jürgen Bartsch Florian "Torturer" Klein
Bethlehem is a German
extreme 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.
History
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".[1] 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 Alexander Welt and Mein Weg, is also well known with his band Aardvarks. Andreas Classen, vocalist on Dark Metal also did vocals for
Shining (primary vocalist
Niklas Kvarforth also provided vocals for Bethlehem on the album A Sacrificial Offering to the Kingdom of Heaven in a Cracked Dog's Ear), Dark Creation, Paragon Belial, Made of Iron, Kadathorn, and 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".
Members
Current members
Jürgen Bartsch – bass guitar (1991–present), keyboards (1991–2011), guitars (2014–2015)
Florian "Torturer" Klein – drums, samples (2011–2015, 2017–present)