Xmal Deutschland -

Xmal Deutschland was a German goth-rock band fronted by songwriter Anja Huwe. They cut two 1981/82 Zickzack EPs and the 1983/84 4AD albums Fetisch and Tocsin, followed by the 1987–89 discs Viva and Devils.

Members: Anja Huwe (vocals), Manuela Rickers (guitar, 1980-87), Fiona Sangster (keyboards, 1980-87), Caro May (drums, 1980-82), Rita Simonsen (bass, 1980), Wolfgang Ellerbrock (bass, 1980-89), Manuela Zwingmann (drums, 1982-83), Peter Bellendir (drums, 1983-87), Frank Z. (guitar, 1989)

Formation

Xmal Deutschland formed in 1980 as an all-female Hamburg post-punk quintet comprised of singer Anja Huwe, guitarist Manuela Rickers, bassist Rita Simonsen, drummer Caro May, and keyboardist Fiona Sangster. They linked with Zickzack, a local indie launched by German Sounds correspondent Alfred Hilsberg.

1981–82 Zickzack Singles

In March 1981, Xmal Deutschland debuted with “Schwarze Welt,” a 7″ max-single on Zickzack.

A. “Schwarze Welt” [Black World] (2:39)
B1. “Die Wolken” [The Clouds] (1:28)
B2. “Großstadtindianer” [Urban Indian] (2:00)

Xmal contributed one unique track (“Kälbermarsch”) to the 1981 Zickzack comp Lieber Zuviel Als Zuwenig.

“Kälbermarsch'” [Calves’ March] (2:39)

Rita Simonsen cleared for bassist Wolfgang Ellerbrock, the first male band member.

In May 1982, Xmal Deutschland released their second Zickzack single: “Incubus Succubus,” a 12″ with three Anja Huwe originals.

A. “Incubus Succubus” (5:20)
B1. “Zu jung zu alt” [Too Young Too Old] (3:29)
B2. “Blut ist liebe” [Blood Is Love] (3:01)

Caro May cleared for drummer Manuela Zwingmann. Xmal toured the UK with the Cocteau Twins and signed with the Scottish trio’s label, 4AD.

Xmal Deutschland made their 4AD debut with the 1983 UK single “Incubus Succubus II,” a new version with an exclusive flipside, “Vito,” both co-produced by label founder Ivo Watts-Russell and Mute engineer John Fryer, a prior soundman for Depeche Mode, Fad Gadget, The Lines, and Yazoo.

Fetisch

Xmal Deutschland released their debut album, Fetisch, on April 4, 1983, on 4AD. It contains ten originals by Anja Huwe and Manuela Rickers, the partnership behind all material for the first three albums.

Rickers supplies angular figures and clipped runs that cut through the dense arrangements, countered by Fiona Sangster’s modulated keyboard layers that envelop each track in a pressurized sonic frame. Manuela Zwingman underpins the album with tightly coiled patterns and staccato fills that mirror the terse urgency of Wolfgang Ellerbrock’s driving low-end, establishing a firm rhythmic fulcrum beneath the shifting interplay.

Fetisch locks into a narrow-band, high-tension attack built on repetitive, pressure-loop riffing and a stern, march-like pulse that keeps the pacing rigid and forward. “Qual” rides dense, fuzzy guitar massing and blunt rhythmic insistence, while “Geheimnis” pushes the same framework into a colder, more metropolitan feel through stark synth coloration and clipped guitar recurrence. “Young Man” slows the air down into a suffocation ritual—monolithic blocks of guitar and electronics set against droning, somnambulist beats—then “In Der Nacht” leans into a vampiric, symphonic haze assembled from minimal band resources.

Side two tightens the screw further: “Hand In Hand” and “Kämpfen” run on metallic, maze-like cycles and martial pacing, with the keyboards taking on a lurid, carnivalesque lead role over stripped chord patterns, while “Danthem” expands into an infernal parade built from marching figures, folk-tinged flourishes, and ritual momentum. “Boomerang” eases the intensity into something closer to lyricism, then “Orient” returns to brooding low-end drive and shrieking guitar abrasion, keeping the album’s emotional temperature pinned in the same stark register.

A1. “Qual” [Torment] (3:50)
A2. “Geheimnis” [Secret] (3:19)
A3. “Young Man” (3:18)
A4. “In Der Nacht” [In the Night] (3:44)
A5. “Orient” (4:06)

B1. “Hand In Hand” (3:08)
B2. “Kaempfen” [To Struggle] (2:48)
B3. “Danthem” (4:59)
B4. “Boomerang” (3:46)
B5. “Stummes Kind” [Mute Child] (5:15)

Sessions occurred at Blackwing Studios, London, with engineer John Fryer. Ivo co-produced Fetisch with the band. The album’s stark visual aesthetic came packaged in a sleeve design by 23 Envelope.

On June 20, 4AD issued an extended remix of “Qual” (6:41) with two exclusive b-sides from an earlier session in Hafenklang, Hamburg.

B1. “Zeit” [Time] (4:06)
B2. “Sehnsucht” [Longing] (4:40)

After Fetisch, Manuela Zwingman departed Xmal and joined the formative lineup of British goth-rockers All About Eve, but left after their 1985 debut single “D for Desire.” Concurrently, she served as the stand-in drummer for Wolfgang Press on their Sweatbox EP. Xmal Deutschland continued with drummer Peter Bellendir, credited years earlier on the debut album by symphonic rockers Softeis.

Tocsin

Xmal Deutschland released their second album, Tocsin, on June 25, 1984, on 4AD.

Manuela Rickers threads serrated motifs and layered sustain through Fiona Sangster’s echo-drenched keyboard patterns, with each part circling the other in sparse, suspended motion. Peter Bellendir and Wolfgang Ellerbrock hold the structure in place with a cold, unshifting backbeat and pressure-pulse basslines that anchor the band’s shifting tonal planes.

Tocsin stretches Xmal Deutschland’s tightly wound template into a broader, more spacious sonic frame, trading the blunt impact of Fetisch for a measured slow-burn intensity. “Mondlicht” opens with weighty pulse repetition, where circling guitars and submerged keyboard haze turn an impending tragedy into a ceremonial processional. “Eiland” deepens the unease with ritual pacing and low-end murk that thickens around the vocal phrasing like fog, while “Tag Für Tag” distills that same dread into a steady, dirge-like march. “Reigen” and “Nachtschatten” inject brightness through sprightly pacing and sharper contrast between voice and instrumental bed, though the underlying tension never lifts.

“Augen·Blick” and “Begrab Mein Herz” apply clipped rhythmic insistence and terse melodic phrasing to cut through the prevailing inertia, creating brief fractures of propulsion. “Derwisch” closes with swirling cadence and layered repetition, collapsing menace and release into a single momentum that resets the entire sequence. The album holds to its own internal logic—controlled, circular, and claustrophobically expansive.

A1. “Mondlicht” [Moonlight] (5:03)
A2. “Eiland” [Island] (5:31)
A3. “Reigen” [Round Dance] (3:59)
A4. “Tag Für Tag” [Day by Day] (4:51)

B1. “Augen·Blick” [Moment / Blink of an Eye] (3:50)
B2. “Begrab Mein Herz” [Bury My Heart] (3:01)
B3. “Nachtschatten” [Nightshade] (3:56)
B4. “Xmass In Australia” (3:14)
B5. “Derwisch” [Dervish] (4:32)

Xmal recorded the album at Livingston Studios with producer/engineer Mick Glossop, a ’70s-era Virgin soundman (Clearlight, Mallard, Penetration, Skids) who oversaw Tocsin in sequence with titles by Van Morrison, Randy California, The Waterboys, and Rueflex. 23 Envelope designed the album sleeve.

4AD lifted “Reigen” as a promo single (b/w “Eiland”).

Sequenz (EP)

In 1985, Xmal Deutschland released Sequenz, a three-song EP on Red Rhino.

A. “Jahr Um Jahr II” [Year After Year II] (6:30)
B1. “Autumn” (4:40)
B1. “Polarlicht” [Aurora Borealis / Polar Light] (3:26)

Sessions occurred in August 1985 at Brunwey Studios, Hamburg.

In 1986, Xmal linked with Stranglers frontman Hugh Cornwell, who produced “Matador,” a taster for their upcoming third album, backed with the exclusive “Paho.”

B. “Paho” [Broadcast] (3:30)

Viva

Xmal Deutschland released their third album, Viva, in early 1987 on Xile.

Manuela Rickers threads clipped, ascending lines through Fiona Sangster’s sustained keyboard figures, forming tightly coiled exchanges that shape the album’s layered tension. Peter Bellendir applies a metronomic backbeat with occasional snare displacement, while Wolfgang Ellerbrock provides a stabilizing low-end anchor beneath the alternating currents.

Viva pivots Xmal Deutschland’s sound toward clarity and shape, pulling sharp edges into smooth, mid-tempo patterns that emphasize space and structure over impact. “Matador” threads climbing guitar lines through layered keyboard pulses, driven by staggered snare strikes and clipped vocal phrasing that accelerates into a near-manic close. “Sickle Moon” and “Feuerwerk (31 Dez.)” stretch under low-register bass figures and glistening keyboard overlays, unfolding as drawn-out, minor-key recitations with tension dispersed across long intervals.

“If Only” floats on bright, open synth textures while the vocal lines pivot into higher registers, stripped of reverb and rendered with heightened clarity. “Polarlicht” centers on submerged rhythmic pulses and delayed guitar accents that shift gradually under the surface. Where Fetisch punched outward, Viva tightens inward—less saturated, more suspended, each track moving along a steady, softened axis without collapsing its sense of weight.

A1. “Matador” (4:02)
A2. “Eisengrau” [Iron Grey] (2:58)
A3. “Sickle Moon” (3:36)
A4. “If Only” (4:11)
A5. “Feuerwerk (31 Dez.)” [Fireworks (Dec 31)] (6:02)

B1. “Morning (Will There Really Be)” (6:04)
B2. “Manchmal” [Sometimes] (3:41)
B3. “Polarlicht” (3:17)
B4. “Ozean” (4:53)
B5. “Dogma I” (4:09)

Xmal Deutschland recorded Viva in 1986 at Brunwey Studios in Hamburg and The Manor in Oxfordshire. Gavin MacKillop produced, engineered, and mixed the sessions. Anton Corbijn shot the group photographs, and Nigel Grierson provided the sleeve photography under the 23 Envelope banner.

Xile lifted “Sickle Moon” as a single with with the non-album “Illusion.” The extended 12″ version (6:25) contains a second bonus, “In Onyx.”

B1. “Illusion” (4:08)
B2. “In Onyx” (3:36)

Final Lineup

Between albums, Anja Huwe and Wolfgang Ellerbrock onboarded Abwarts guitarist Frank Ziegert. Elsewhere, Manuela Rickers and Peter Bellendir resurfaced together in Whiteouts.

The reconfigured Xmal Deutschland recorded their final album with three veteran journeymen: guitarist Wesley Plass (Oktagon, Tax, Xynn), keyboardist Henry Staroste (Touch, Reflexx, Warlock), and drummer Curt Cress (Atlantis, Passport, Sincerely P.T.). In Rickers’ absence, Ellerbrock became Huwe’s co-writer.

Devils

Xmal Deutschland released their fourth album, Devils, in 1989 on Metronome.

Frank Z. and Wesley Plass alternate between sharp stabs and fluid overlays, counterbalanced by Henry Staroste’s keyboard atmospheres that thread beneath and between the guitar phrasings in offset motion. Curt Cress lays down a taut, mechanical backbeat while Wolfgang Ellerbrock supplies a firm low-end underpin that grounds the arrangements in a steady rhythmic frame.

Devils distills Xmal Deutschland’s sharp contours into smoother, synth-forward frames that foreground arrangement over abrasion. “Searchlights” layers distant guitar bursts over a steady drum pulse, where Anja Huwe’s phrasing unfolds in wide arcs above a low, propulsive undercurrent. “I’ll Be Near You” leans into tightly sequenced rhythm and gated snare accents, with chorus-soaked guitar lines traded off between Frank Z. and Wesley Plass. “Sickle Moon” and “All In My Hands” suspend their tension over slowly cycling keyboard patterns that rise without resolution, carried by static pulse beneath the surface.

“Dreamhouse” and its reprise “Dreamhouse Theme” strip the instrumentation back to skeletal motifs, placing clipped vocal patterns over a thin, synthetic backline. “Heavens and Seas” and “I Push It Harder” lift the tempo but retain the album’s inward posture, using processed drums and overlapping keyboard loops to maintain a fixed intensity. Across the set, Curt Cress applies metronomic pressure with measured precision while Henry Staroste’s keys blur foreground and backdrop, keeping everything locked in motion but emotionally flattened. Devils moves in tightly regulated steps, polished but withdrawn, each track circling back on itself without collapse or escalation.

1. “I’ll Be Near You” (3:38)
2. “Searchlights” (4:20)
3. “You Broke My Heart” (4:28)
4. “Sleepwalker” (3:50)
5. “When Devils Come” (3:58)
6. “Heavens and Seas” (3:51)
7. “Dreamhouse” (3:38)
8. “I Push It Harder” (3:50)
9. “I Should Have Known” (4:06)
10. “All In My Hands” (4:12)
11. “Drowned You” (2:58)
12. “Dreamhouse Theme” (3:25)

Xmal Deutschland recorded Devils at Hammertone Studio and Pilot Studios with producer/engineer Henry Staroste. Ingrid Albrecht designed the cover with photography by Alexandra Kummer.

“I’ll Be Near You” appeared in 7″ and 12″ forms with the exclusive b-side “The Girl In the Iron Mask.” Metronome also lifted “Dreamhouse” as a single (b/w “Drowned You”).

B. “The Girl In the Iron Mask” (3:19)

Discography: