**Unheilig **(German for "Unholy") is a German Neue Deutsche Härte band. They are stylistically connected to the Dark Culture. **Unheilig **was formed in 1999 and now consists of principally Der Graf, with his live musicians Licky and Henning Verlage.
At the end of 1999 the first single „Sage Ja!“ was released and was a the same time the first visible proof that **Unheilig **existed. The single which it is still a club hit today immediately entered the German DAC charts and remained there for several weeks. In February 2001 the long awaited debut album „Phosphor" was released and soon succeeded by the second single „Komm zu mir!“ which didn't fall short of the first one in any way and is also still part of most club DJ play lists. In the following months **Unheilig **played numerous big festivals and open air concerts in Germany ( Zillo Open Air, Wave Gothic Treffen Leipzig, Doomsday Festival, Woodstage Festival) but then backed out in order to record songs for the Christmas album „Frohes Fest“ (release date. 28.10.2002) and to produce the second long player „Das zweite Gebot“.
This second album „Das zweite Gebot“ ( release date: 07. April 2003 ) is a successful continuation of the typical **Unheilig **style: Graf’s powerful electro rock songs – sometimes danceable, sometimes ballad-like - enchant the listener. German lyrics plus the distinguished, deep and passionate voice and the charismatic personality of the Graf soon render UNHEILIG one of the most popular artists in Germany. In February 2003 **Unheilig **go on tour through 11 European cities to promote „Das zweite Gebot“. After this tour the fans decided via internet poll to release a 7-track EP called „Schutzengel“ including 4 hitherto unreleased tracks. Diverse festival and live gigs followed while the band was preparing the production of the next album „Zelluloid“.
More or less simultaneously with the release of the new album „Zelluloid“ on 23rd February.2004 the Germany tour started on 27th February 2004. Both album and tour became an immediate success and enhanced UNHEILIG’s degree of popularity. The success of „Zelluloid“ and the fans’ enthusiastic want for „more“ resulted in the decision to let once again the fans decide on the next release. The song „Freiheit“ was their first choice and therefore released on 18th October 2004 as an E.P.CD and followed by a tour soon - due to requests of promoters and fans. As a result of the frenetic concerts with **Unheilig **and the fans’ desire for a live album the CD „Gastspiel” was released on 31st January 2005 as double CD. Soon afterwards the first UNHEILIG DVD „KopfKino“ was released on 17th May 2005. Thanks to the support of VIVA Plus which played the video clip to „Freiheit“ regularly “Kopfkino” was a huge success. During this summer **Unheilig **played several open air festival gigs and also celebrated the first live appearances on stage in Russia and Spain.
At the same time the production of the album „Moderne Zeiten“, released in January 2006, was just about to be concluded. Coincidently it was made public that the German private TV channel PERMIERE had used the song „Ich will alles“ for some new trailers which caught some extra attention and promoted the release of the „Moderne Zeiten“ additionally. On 20th Januar 2006 „Moderne Zeiten“ came out and finally brought **Unheilig **the long-awaited chart entry (position 76)! The limited first edition was sold out immediately! In February and March the „Goldene Zeiten Tour“ followed and enthused fans and promoters all over Germany as most of the venues were sold out. Again a traditional fan voting was made in which the fans could choose their personal favourite song. This time the fans voted for “Astronaut“ and „Mein Stern“.
Consequently, the limited EP CD „Astronaut“ was released on 9th June 2006. It contains 8 songs, two versons of each of the title tracks „Astronaut“ and „Mein Stern“, an exclusive club version of the third song „Ich Will Alles“ and three new and hitherto unreleased songs. This CD was also sold out after a short while and has not been re-released up to now. In summer 2006 **Unheilig **played nearly all relevant festivals (MERA LUNA Festival, WESTSCHACHT Festival, AMPHI Festival, BATTLE OF METAL Festival, WGT Festival, NOVA ROCK Festival, etc.) and were constantly gaining new fans and a steadily growing fan community. The presentation of the future single release „Ich will leben“, a cooperation with PROJECT PITCHFORK, at the MERA LUNA festival was due to the huge and enthusiastic audience definitely one of the highlights of this summer.
On 15th September 2006 everybody had the chance to purchase this extraordinary single with **Unheilig **and PROJECT PITCHFORK in record stores all over the country. „Ich will leben“ shot to number 3 of the DAC charts immediately! Between end of September and mid-October **Unheilig **went on tour with PROJECT PITCHFORK („Orkus Festival II Tour“) where they celebrated this cooperation evening after evening successfully – and once again most venues were sold out. Just before this tour started **Unheilig **provided for another little sensation! The appearance of the Graf at PRO 7’s TV show „Frank der Weddingplaner“ resulted in a run of the **Unheilig **website which sometimes even collapsed due to thousands of visits and in a literal “flooding” of the guestbook! The TV presentation of the songs „Astronaut“ and „Mein Stern“ clearly showed that **Unheilig **is definitely able to stir the masses. On 13th October 2006 **Unheilig **had an exclusive „THANKYOU“ for the fans. The double CD „Goldene Zeiten“ was released in a special limited edition and already sold out in pre-sale. A live concert of spring 2006 makes up the heart of this double CD- it was released in crystal-clear quality and captures the mood of this energetic performance and the enthused audience. The Christmas tour in December completed the year 2006 and **Unheilig **once again managed to elate their audience with a mixture of **Unheilig **classics and Christmas songs from the album „Frohes Fest“ back in 2002. The number of audience exceeded that of the last couple of tours and bestowed **Unheilig **a truly blessed end of the year.
In the year 2007 **Unheilig **limited their appearances to a few carefully selected festivals (WACKEN Open Air Festival, AMPHI Festival, BURGROCK Altena Festival) and some shows abroad in order to concentrate on the preparations to the new album „Puppenspiel“ and the „Puppenspieler-Tournee“ which will both follow at the beginning of 2008.
http://www.unheilig.com/html/entrance.html
Source: http://artists.letssingit.com/unheilig-85x9f/biography
