Hamburg’s Xmal Deutschland carved their place in the early 1980s with jagged guitars, choral keys, and Anja Huwe’s unmistakable voice carrying across the gloom of the North German port city. Their music bridged local post-punk roots with the underground currents rippling across Britain, aligning them with 4AD peers while maintaining their own uncompromising character.
By 1989, Xmal Deutschland found themselves at a crossroads. After years of international activity and lineup shifts, the band unveiled Devils on Metronome—their fourth and final studio album. With a changed core of collaborators and all-English lyrics, the record diverged sharply from earlier phases and, to many ears, feels more Huwe-forward—closer to a solo record than the Xmal of the band’s ZickZack and 4AD and Phonogram eras.
Recorded at Hammertone Studio (Düsseldorf) and Pilot Studio (Munich) and mixed at Chateau du Pape in Hamburg by Paul Corkett, Devils brought Huwe and bassist Wolfgang Ellerbrock together with Frank Ziegert (Abwärts), Wesley Plass, Henry Staroste, and drummer Curt Cress for a 12‑track set that leaned into a radio-friendly new-wave sheen without completely shedding that trademark Xmal bite.
Among its highlights, Searchlights has endured as a fan favorite, while I’ll Be Near You and Dreamhouse underline the album’s sharper, late-’80s tilt. For the new double-LP edition, those singles are expanded with their rare companion material: multiple versions of Dreamhouse Theme, alternate mixes of I’ll Be Near You, and the long-lost B-sides The Girl in the Iron Mask and Drowned You. This brings the out-of-print maxi tracks releases back into circulation for the first time in decades.
Huwe has been candid about her mixed feelings toward the record, noting that the finished product bore a smoother studio polish than she intended. The songs she had written with Ellerbrock were originally rawer, with a grittier edge. In our 2024 interview, she recalled the outside choices that diluted that bite: “They brought in a studio drummer that softened the drumming.” She also emphasized the album’s limited reach: “It was mainly released in Germany and Canada. That was it.”
After the release of Devils, Huwe stepped away from music for decades to focus on visual art. Her return began with Codes (2024), and she’s now back onstage performing Xmal material alongside new work.
A new, signed vinyl edition of Devils is now available for preorder—limited to 1,500 copies worldwide—and presented as a double-LP with bonus tracks drawn from the rare “I’ll Be Near You” and “Dreamhouse” 12-inch maxis.
What’s next? With Devils finally returning to physical formats, there’s real hope that the long out‑of‑print Viva (1987) is next in line—something Huwe herself has said she’s actively pursuing.
You can pre-order Devils here.
Tracklist:
A
-
A1. I’ll Be Near You
-
A2. Searchlights
-
A3. You Broke My Heart
-
A4. Sleepwalker
-
A5. When Devils Come
B
-
B1. Heavens and Seas
-
B2. Dreamhouse
-
B3. I Push It Harder
-
B4. All in My Hands
C
-
C1. Dreamhouse Theme (Do-The-Hitch-Hike-Mix / Extended)
-
C2. Dreamhouse Theme
-
C3. Drowned You
-
C4. Dreamhouse Theme (Do-The-Hitch-Hike-Mix / Radioadded)
D
-
D1. I’ll Be Near You (Radical Remix)
-
D2. The Girl in the Iron Mask
-
D3. I’ll Be Near You (Retouched Radio Version)
Looking ahead, Huwe continues her resurgence with a tight slate of live dates into autumn and beyond. Starting at the Death Disco Open Air Festival in Athens on September 20, she then takes the stage at Berlin’s Volksbühne (Großes Haus) for two nights—September 28 and 30—where she’ll perform selections from Codes along with reimagined Xmal Deutschland classics. Looking further ahead, her schedule continues into October with concerts in Łódź, Poland, and across several UK cities supporting The Psychedelic Furs, including Wolverhampton, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Bristol, culminating in a performance at the London Palladium on October 31, and another show in Leipzig in January 2026. This series highlights her ongoing dedication to promoting her solo record Codes, as well as reviving Xmal material and introducing it to new audiences.
Anja Huwe of Xmal Deutschland Live Dates:
- September 20 – Death Disco Open Air Festival, Athens, Greece
- September 28 & 30 – Volksbühne (Großes Haus), Berlin, Germany
- October 17 – Klub Wytwórnia, Łódź, Poland
- October 22 – Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton, UK
- October 24 – Barrowland, Glasgow, UK
- October 25 – Stylus, Leeds University, UK
- October 27 – Retro, Albert Hall, Manchester, UK
- October 28 – O2 Academy, Bristol, UK
- October 30 – De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, UK
- October 31 – London Palladium, London, UK
- January 17, 2026 – Moritzbastei, Leipzig, Germany
Follow Anja Huwe:
Follow Xmal Deutschland:
Or via: