Jürgen Bartsch, the founding and one fixed member of pioneering German excessive steel band Bethlehem, has handed away after an undisclosed sickness. The information was shared by present Bethlehem singer Yvonne “Onielar” Wilczynska.
On Instagram, Onielar wrote (as translated from German), “He has died many occasions… However dying was solely momentary. After a critical sickness, perseverance, and nice combating spirit, our beloved pal and esteemed founding father of Bethlehem – Jürgen Bartsch – handed away on August 27, 2025. In deep sorrow and with a damaged coronary heart, Within the title of Bethlehem, We are going to always remember you, Jürgen. Relaxation in peace.”
Bartsch was the founding bassist and chief songwriter of Bethlehem, whom he based in 1991. The band is credited with pioneering the DSBM (Depressive Suicidal Black Steel) style, combing black steel with doom steel on a sequence of influential Nineties albums, together with its debut Darkish Steel (1994) and its follow-up Dictius te necare (1996).
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Total, Bethlehem has launched 10 albums, most lately 2022’s The Gospel In keeping with Alexander, with their sound evolving over time. Two of the band’s songs appeared on the soundtrack to Concord Korine’s 1997 cult film Gummo.
In a 2017 interview, Bartsch was requested about Bethlehem being known as the forefathers of the DSBM style, to which he responded, “Sure, we’re! [laughs]. Mainly, we don’t have something in widespread with that scene, however sure, we’re their godfathers! … Within the nineties, we had been enjoying in entrance of ten individuals. Individuals had been saying: ‘That is shit! It’s not black steel, it’s about suicide, what sort of shit is that this?’ So yeah, we had been fortunate that one way or the other some children received fascinated by that.”
Our condolences exit to Jürgen Bartsch’s household, mates, and bandmates throughout this tough time.