Schock

Schock is the 6th studio album by Eisbrecher. It was released on 23 January 2015.

• Released

  23 January 2015

• Recorded

  2013-2014 Pix Studios, Freising Bauteil 3, Berlin Tempelhof

• Producer(s)

  Noel Pix Pix Studios, Freising Bauteil 3, Berlin Tempelhof

• Mastered

  Robin Schmidt 24-96 Mastering, Karlsruhe

• Mixed

  Henning Verlage, Noel Pix Principal Studios, Senden Pix Studios, Freising

• Label

  Sony Music Metropolis (U.S.)

• Length

  52:29

• Formats

  CD, Vinyl, Digital

Streaming Links

Album chronology

Zehn Jahre Kalt

2014

Schock

2015

Schock Live

2015

Production

It is unknown exactly when album production began. With March 2013 being the first known public mention of the next album, it is possible that work had started that year. However, in 5 September 2014 on the official Eisbrecher Facebook , it is said that over 2 years of work had been done on the album. This is also backed up by the official press release for the album suggesting a 2 and a half year working cycle. The implications of this uncertainty can be read more in depth below in the "Other Songs" section.

Promotion

The first mention of work being done on the next Eisbrecher album came from an interview with Alexander Wesselsky at a concert in Zürich, Switzerland in March 2013 with Artnoir.ch. Alex stated that a new album would hopefully release in September of 2014.

In September of 2013, in an interview with Prinz.de, Alex repeated the claim that an album could be expected in 2014. But this time, he also mentioned a heavy creative input from, then new bassist, Rupert Keplinger, alongside a following tour.

Another interview in September 2013, with Latin American website Summainferno.com, Noel Pix mentioned that the band was halfway through the writing process for the next album, and that a cover of a German song from the 1980's had already been recorded. The only cover that would appear on Schock is the MediaMarkt special edition exclusive track Das steht dir gut, released in 1982.

Alex repeated the 2014 release date suggestion in an interview with EMP in October 2013, while promoting the upcoming single 10 Jahre Eisbrecher.

In a Facebook post  on 24 November 2013, Noel left a comment on the 25th that suggested that some work would be started on the 26th of November, he responded to a comment suggesting about new Eisbrecher work. Though no more clarification was given on what type of work would be done.

On 29 November 2013, the official press release for 10 Jahre Eisbrecher made the first official statement on a 2014 release date for the next album. But no news other than that.

On 23 December 2013, in an interview with Crazy Clips TV , Alex and Rupert repeat that September 2014 is the plan for the album and that a name had not yet been decided. But Alex had not yet jumped onto production as Rupert and Noel were still writing.

On 12 February 2014, on the official Eisbrecher website , a new release window was announced as the band announced a lack of live shows due to album production work being done. The band now stated that the new album is to be expected in early 2015. The reason for the delay is not known. The new release period would be repeated on a Facebook post  a couple of days later.

Eisbrecher made numerous social media posts teasing the creation of Schock, these are listed below:

7 February 2014: Rupert Facebook post .
9 February 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
10 February 2014: Noel Facebook post .
10 February 2014: Alex Facebook post .
10 February 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
11 February 2014: Rupert Facebook post .
11 February 2014: Rupert Facebook post .
11 February 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
12 February 2014: Rupert Facebook post .
12 February 2014: Rupert Facebook post .
12 February 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
13 February 2014: Rupert Facebook post .
13 February 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
13 February 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
14 February 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
16 February 2014: Rupert Facebook post .
16 February 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
17 February 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
19 February 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
3 March 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
4 March 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
4 March 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
5 March 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
24 March 2014: Noel Facebook post .
24 March 2014: Noel Facebook post .
25 March 2014: Noel Facebook post .
28 March 2014: Alex Facebook post .
28 March 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
28 March 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
16 April 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
29 April 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
11 May 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
14 May 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
5 June 2014: Bauteil3 Facebook post .
5 June 2014: Bauteil3 Facebook post .
6 June 2014: Bauteil3 Facebook post .
6 June 2014: Bauteil3 Facebook post .
7 June 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
8 June 2014: Tom Deininger Facebook post .
10 June 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
4 July 2014: Rupert Facebook post .
6 July 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .
16 July 2014: Eisbrecher Facebook post .

On 1 April 2014, the band announced a brand new tour, that would be accompanying the new album in 2015. Not much new info was given but the dates of the tour suggested that the album would be released in the first 2 months of the year.

On 9 April 2014, a video was posted to the official Eisbrecher Facebook  showing Alex recording vocals to a song. This song would later be confirmed to be Himmel, Arsch und Zwirn.

On 16 June 2014, a post on the official Eisbrecher Facebook  confirmed that an album title had been decided. Other information on the post is discussed in the "Other Songs" section below.

On 28 July 2014, a post on the official Eisbrecher Facebook  stated that the band will be starting to enter the final rush of album development. The post mentions that the songs are finalized and that the first photos for the album had been taken.

On 11 August 2014, the band posted a poster and some info to the official Eisbrecher Facebook  to promote the end of year concerts. The info suggested that some songs from the new album will be played exclusively live for the first time at the 20.12.2014 and 21.12.2014 concerts on board the Rheinfeier. These 2 songs would be 1000 Narben and Himmel, Arsch und Zwirn.

The first confirmation of a release date came from a 15 August 2014 YouTube vlog  by former Megaherz member Christian Scharinger, where Alex was testing Christian's new studio, Megawatt. The release date would be 16 January 2015, and the first single would be released in November. He also suggested that his work on the album would be finished by 31 August 2014.

Starting on 13 October 2014, the cover and title for the album would be revealed slowly over the course of the next 4 days.
Cover reveal: PART 1
Cover reveal: PART 2
Cover reveal: PART 3
Cover reveal: PART 4
Cover reveal: PART 5

With the cover and title released, Sonic Seducer released a news article about the reveal, which leaked the tracklist length and the names of 2 songs, Volle Kraft voraus and Schlachtbank, early, as well as the inclusion of at least one limited edition release, which would include the songs Das steht dir gut, Süßwasserfisch, and Ozean. It is unknown if all 3 tracks were intended for 1 limited edition release and plans changed or if Sonic Seducer had not been given clear enough information about plans with the tracks. On the same day, a director of Radio Freiheit leaked the tracklist in its entirety on his Facebook alongside the limited edition info. It is unknown if Sonic Seducer learned their information from him or if the 2 simultaneous discoveries were coincidental.

On 16 October 2014, in an interview with stagebuilder.de , Alex said that not all of the songs had been finished yet at that point.

On 17 November 2014, the album was delayed by a week, making the new release date 23.01.2015.

On 20 November 2014, the song 1000 Narben was played live on the radio for the first time on Rock Antenne.

On 8 December 2014, the track Zwischen uns was released early as an "Instant Gratification" track on iTunes.

The bonus track Süßwasserfisch was made available early on 16 January 2015.

Also on 16 January 2015, the band uploaded a collection of snippets of 5 tracks of the album. These tracks were Volle Kraft voraus, Schock, Fehler machen Leute, Schlachtbank, and So oder so.

A second collection  of 5 tracks was uploaded on 20 January 2015. These tracks were Unschuldsengel, Himmel, Arsch und Zwirn, Der Flieger, Dreizehn, and Noch zu retten.

The 3 singles and Nachtfieber were not included in these snippet collections.

On 3 February 2015, the photographer Oliver Wand uploaded his blog of the band working on the album to his website .

Schock Tracklist Spiel

Starting on 10 November 2014, the band started releasing parts of a story to their website. The story would contain 2 titles from the album and the game was for fans to guess the tracks names. Fans who guessed the 2 names correctly were placed into a raffle for 2 free tickets to the Schock Tour. The stories ended on 18 November 2014 with the entire tracklist revealed. The entire story can be found, alongside translations, here.

Other songs

On 16 June 2014, the band confirmed that the track list had been finalized, but they did state that 3 monster songs were still hoping to be on the album. Thankfully, all 3 tracks would be confirmed and released in an official capacity along with the album in certain ways.

• Das steht dir gut. Released on a MediaMarkt exclusive special editon.
• Süßwasserfisch. Released exclusively on iTunes.
• Ozean. Released on the Rot wie die Liebe single.

The track Schwarzes Blut would have been created in the Schock studio sessions. The cover was created to celebrate 15 years of ASP. The ASP CD containing the cover, Per aspera ad aspera, released in September 2014.

It is unknown if work on the album was also being done during the creation of the Eisbrecher and Adrenalin remake tracks for the 10 Jahre Eisbrecher single. As the cover of Das steht dir gut was recorded prior to September 2013, it is possible the recording sessions crossed over.

Due to the uncertain starting times for the album's creation, it is not known if the band had entered the studio for work on bonus tracks for Die Hölle muss warten first, or if work began on Schock and then the band decided to include some early tracks on a bonus edition instead. If the bonus edition tracks were solely for the Miststück edition of Die Hölle muss warten, it is still not clear how long or shortly after the release that the band returned/started working on Schock.

The track Anfang could have possibly been created during the recording sessions for Schock. Due to Alex and Noel's mentioning of the studios used in its creation in an interview with Metal Hammer , it could either be Schock or Die Hölle muss warten. Solely due to the song's placement on the compilation album Es bleibt kalt°!, on the 2003-2013 CD, it is highly likely to be from the sessions of Die Hölle muss warten.

The track Festung der Einsamkeit was first written for the album Schock, however, Alex could not think of a chorus for the track and it took him nearly 10 years before finally discovering the title and chorus and finishing the track for the album Kaltfront°!.

Touredition 2016

In February 2016, the band announced through the official Eisbrecher Facebook that there would be a special release ahead of the Volle Kraft voraus Tour. A 4 disc special "Touredition" of the Schock album. Including Schock, 2 CD's covering Schock Live, and a special bonus single containing Schwarzes Blut and Süßwasserfisch. With the bonus single, Volle Kraft voraus, also being available exclusively at the merch booth of the tour. The Touredition released on the start date of the tour, 11 March 2016.

Tracklist

Formats