NICHTS (D)

The New Wave legends from Düsseldorf around Meikel Clauss aka Micky Matschkopf are back with new, deep-black material! Having briefly rocked the Ratinger Hof with KFC in 1980, NICHTS, with singer Andrea M. and two successful albums in the early 1980s, shaped the scene between punk, New Wave, and NDW.
The single hit “Radio,” “Licht Aus,” and of course the timeless Top 20 hit and club classic “Tango 2000” are part of German music history.
In 1983, a third album was released without Clauss, who preferred to create Belfegore, but revived the band in 2009 and released the album “Zeichen Auf Sturm” (vocals: Sabine K.) on Unique/Electriqie Mud with a new lineup in 2011. Since then, Nichts has played live, released deluxe editions of their three 1980s albums, returned to the charts, and, during the pandemic, DJ Hell honored them with a remix of their cult track “Eingeschlossen.”

With new frontwoman Nina H., they have been working on new songs since 2022, resulting in “Nitroglycerin” at the end of 2024 and now taking shape in the fifth full-length Nichts album. With “Tiefschwarz,” the band returns to the darkest roots of their soundscapes in this update, following on from tracks like “Eingeschlossen,” “Tango 2000,” and “Schwarze Gedanken,” or the aforementioned Belfegore (“All That I Wanted”). A sound carried by Clauss’s signature playing and his intense guitar riffs, garnished with hypnotic beats and thunderous drums, laid on a foundation of bass and electronics.
The lyrics – sometimes direct, sometimes poetic, sometimes harsh, sometimes gentle – depict a journey through the dark side of life, melancholic, powerful, and unvarnished. Singles “Kugel durch den Kopf” and “Alien,” the opener “Maschine oder Mensch,” and the closing title track are just four of 10 strong new songs. The CD comes as a 4-panel digipack with a 12-page booklet, and the LP comes in a gatefold sleeve with a printed inner sleeve. The classic black vinyl is 180g, while the transparent blue vinyl is 140g. [info sheet from distr.]