Geisterfahrer - Schatten voraus (1980)

Geisterfahrer were a German new wave / post punk band from Hamburg, formed in 1979.

"This thing, this album, this sound took me by surprise....

Unfortunately, they are only known in their natal country (Germany), where they still have a small cult following and not anywhere else

I can tell you, however, that this band pioneered goth alongside Joy Division and The Cure (I'm still surprised that nobody knows them), unlike The Cure or Joy Division, they have a more "urban" sound (very German indeed), and the songs are pretty upbeat, reminiscent of the German New Wave, but thereby lies angst, despair, uneasiness and rawness that may have given Martin Hannet a fatal heart attack (and a run for his money)..

The first side is, although still pretty dark, catchy enough for your local post-punk subculture wannabes, but the album doesn't really turn into an horror rollercoaster until the 2nd side kicks in. When "Das Haus" starts, it seems like it haunts the place where the album is played, "Schatten" seems like its trying to summon Ian Curtis' decrepit ghost into the listener's mind, "Wasser" is sinister and scary enough to sit in the corner and cry in fear, way more paranormal than "Das Haus", and "Vertrauen" invokes some kind of nasty murder in an abandoned metro somewhere in Berlin, perpetrated by deranged satanic cultists...

If you shamelessly play frisbee with this, you may have took a very wrong decision...." - UncleUber

"Schatten voraus" was their first album, released in 1980 on "Konkurrenz Schallplatten". 

Tracklist:

A1 Das Ufer 4:20
A2 Pestkreuze 3:35
A3 Scharlach 3:20
A4 Terror/Liebe 2:45
A5 Sand Am Meer 2:27
A6 Es Tut Nicht Mehr Weh 3:22
B1 Das Haus 2:10
B2 Schatten 4:05
B3 Wasser 2:52
B4 Vertrauen 8:20

Geisterfahrer - Schatten voraus (1980)
(256 kbps, cover art included)