| Leichenschrei | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | SPK |
| Cover: | LeichenschreiThermidor.jpg |
| Released: | April 1982 (USA) / January 1983 (UK) |
| Recorded: | October 1981 – March 1982 |
| Studio: | SPK/Side Effekts Studio |
| Genre: | Industrial, experimental, musique concrète, dark ambient |
| Length: | 43:09 |
| Label: | Thermidor |
| Producer: | SPK |
| Prev Title: | Information Overload Unit |
| Prev Year: | 1981 |
| Next Title: | Machine Age Voodoo |
| Next Year: | 1984 |
Leichenschrei is the second album by the band SPK. It was released in 1982 on Thermidor Records in the United States and in 1983 on the band's own Side Effekts label in the United Kingdom. The title is a German word meaning "corpse scream", and might refer to an alleged supernatural behavior exhibited by the deceased.
The band was listed on the initial Thermidor release as "SPK", although subsequent vinyl reissues were credited to "Sozialistisches Patienten Kollektiv", a reference to the leftist German patients' group of the same name. The name was misspelled on the CD reissue as "Socialistisches Patienten Kollektiv".
In a 1987 interview for Italian fanzine Snowdonia, Edward Ka-Spel of The Legendary Pink Dots stated that he thought industrial music should have stopped after Leichenschrei, describing it as a "brilliant album" and "nobody could make a better, more definitive work in industrial music".[1]
No track listing was provided with the initial release on Thermidor Records. The first side of vinyl editions of the album end with a lockgroove. Sides one and two of the vinyl editions are labeled "Seite ((Lysso))" and "Seite ((Klono))", respectively.[2]
According to the album liner notes:[3]
| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 1982 | Thermidor Records | LP | T-9 | |
| United Kingdom | 1983 | Side Effekts | LP | SER 02 | |
| Germany | 1986 | Normal Records | LP | NORMAL 26 | |
| United Kingdom | 1992 | The Grey Area | CD | SPK 2CD |