Release Notes and background information.

://firewall was the debut album by Wertstahl in it´s original lineup: W.A.Mossad (now goes by Wertstahl as his monicker), =Judas=, Minute.Man and kNort. It was released in 2002 on CDBaby with 150 copies and parallel to that it was widely digitally available on all of the MP3 distribution websites at that time. Surprisingly, the internet turned out to be so young, that only a few people understood what online MP3 distribution actually meant.

The album was entirely focused on new (internet) technology and political power shifts. For many people, the internet was a hot topic, but not a thorough reality, yet.

The recording of the album took place right after battlecommand´s transition period from classic audio hardware (Synthesizers, Samplers ect.) to virtual studio technology and was already entirely digitally recorded.

Due to some unfortunate miscommunication, the official release was actually extracted from an unmastered CD-R. Sending plain wav files was not a thing in 2002. Also, during the rendering process of the tracks, some software bugs produced glitches, which changed the sound, so that the shipped record would sound different from the rendered file that was intended to be on the CD. In short: the final rendered files, that went to CD, were improperly validated.

Directly after the release (after the shipping) of the record, the band in it´s original lineup dissolved ("record finished, i do something completely else now, nkay?") so there weren´t any live shows.

We totally overestimated of the popularity of the internet, which already had become the main base of operation for the remaining active Wertstahl members. The for the time pretty extravagant website, featuring Videos, Images, Lyrics and Soundbites, remained barely noticed.

W.A.Mossad then focused on his other projects and the revival work with Tyske Ludder. Originally a rework album named "://wirefall" was planned, but only two tracks ("Her Name" and "Pakistan") were actually remade.

So - finally the time came, and the old data was as fresh as on day one. The finalization of this Edition took only about three weeks.

Here is a list of changes and bugfixes:
- annoying crackling voice sample in "Speedline Slut" restaurated manually.
- hyper annoying re-ocurrence of forementioned sample
and multiple erranous repeats at end of track _removed_
- there is a "new" musical bit in the song now
its actually not new, but it was simply unused (muted) before
- some nasty 3271hz resonance fixed in 2022

- super annoying offbeat vocal in "Negative Water" fixed
- some drums added

- there exist actually 5 different mixes of unbreakable,
all of them ruined by rushed vocals and intoxicated mixing.
the version thats in this edition is the best.
and this version makes most sense because of the additional sample.

- pakistan was completely reworked in 2006.
actually =Judas= originally disagreed with the reuse of the vocals
but they just had been badly mixed before

- name again. this version is the one originally meant for the ://wirefall remake.

- rooftop morningsmog was reworked for liveshows with tyske ludder.
this is the version we played live in 2009.
vocals were re-recorded in 2011

- same is for destroyer. this version is perfect. you can believe it.

- conflict is now an instrumental. the vocals, which were just a
tryout and a quick alternative take at the recording session
always annoyed the shit out of me.
the lyrics were not and never meant to be on that track.

- yes, the mega-sample in sirens of titan still blips and blops
because it is still the same version. this is because this sample
has a very special history. Minute.Man sampled it from tape and then transferred it
via a 56k modem to the studio. originally it was just a test for a custom network protocol.
but then, the sample itself was so outstanding, having all these
artifacts and errors that it was used for the track.
- track has been fixed for addition errors in 2/2022

- believe it or not: Two Strongh is actually the first Wertstahl
song ever written. As you can hear, it is a tape recording.
this is because it must have been written before 2001, actually
at kNorts Studio, with classic samplers and synthesizers.
sadly enough, the arrangement and the original parts are lost.
so this is all thats left of it.

- from the same year (it could be 1999) originates the track
"Schneider", which is a version of a nursery rhyme that was
sung in this particular version to the infant W.A.Mossad back
in the 80s. it is some wicked rhyme thats possibly related
to "The Valiant Little Tailor". this track was just a fun
session by kNort and W.A.Mossad during their re-recording sessions
for "Das Neue Universum".

- Hell As A Home just resurfaced in 2018 and was added to the bonus tracks

- 2022 track order changed + additional tracks added
- 2022 real rls - now available everywhere

Don´t miss the other Wertstahl albums -
as long as you care, we're there.