Wer Bist Du?

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Wer Bist Du?
Studio album by Megaherz
Released July 12, 1997
Genre Neue Deutsche Harte
Length 52:16
Label ZYX Music
Producer Andy Knote
Megaherz chronology
Wer Bist Du
Alternative cover
U.S. Re-release

Wer Bist Du? (eng. "Who Are You?") is the first full album by German industrial metal group Megaherz, following the limited edition release of their first album, Herzwerk. The album included three songs from Herzwerk: Krone der Schöpfung (originally a two-part song, here a single track), Negativ and Hänschenklein 1995 (remade as Hänschenklein Siebenundneunzig).

The first track, Gott sein, is one of Megaherz's most famous, and considers the problems of being God, culminating in the refrain "Es ist nicht leicht ein Gott zu sein" ("It is not easy being a god").

This album shows elements of rap metal, with rapping and slap bass riffs. The penultimate track, Hänschenklein Siebenundneunzig, is based on a German nursery rhyme, in which Hänschenklein (which translates most closely as "Little Hans", though this loses the double emphasis of -chen and -klein, which both mean "little") leaves home, causing his mother great grief. In the nursery rhyme, Hans returns home; in Megaherz's song, he is brutally murdered to the point that his mother cannot recognise him. The song shares the first line of the chorus Aber Mutter weinte sehr ("But Mother wept deeply") and ends with a brief drum solo accompanied by squeals of feedback and the whistling of the original nursery tune.

This song was the first of several Megaherz songs to be based on nursery rhymes, preceding Rapunzel on Kopfschuss, Windkind on Himmelfahrt (which echoed the story of Goldilocks) and I. M. Rumpelstilzchen on Herzwerk II. The more famous German heavy metallists Rammstein would begin a similar theme four years later with the track Spieluhr on the album Mutter, Dalai Lama on Reise, Reise, continuing with Hilf Mir and the title track Rosenrot.

The album was re-released in the US in 2004 as I (read as "One" or "Eins").

Track listing[edit]

  1. Gott Sein (To Be God) - 4:15
  2. Wer Bist Du? (Who Are You?) - 3:07
  3. Schlag' Zurück (Fight Back) - 4:01
  4. Das Leben (The Life) - 3:59
  5. Finsternis (Darkness) - 1:19
  6. Licht (Light) - 3:51
  7. Negativ (Negative) - 3:44
  8. Kopf Durch Die Wand (Head Through The Wall) - 4:31
  9. Müde (Tired) - 4:39
  10. Krone Der Schöpfung (Pride of Creation) - 4:05
  11. Tanzen Geh'n (To Go Dancing) - 3:23
  12. Gedanken (Thoughts Are Free) - 3:59
  13. Hänschenklein '97 (Little Hans '97) - 2:52
  14. Wer Bist Du? (Remix) - 4:31