Wynardtage

Wynardtage is the alias of German dark electro producer Kai Arnold, who is affiliated with the dark electro/EMB/industrial labels X-Cem and Rupal Records. Based in Chemnitz, Saxony, Arnold got into the German club scene initially as a DJ several years before founding his own label, X-Cem Records, on which he released the two-volume Lost in Darkness compilation series featuring stylistically similar artists to himself, such as May-Fly and Acylum. In particular, the Arnold production "Sterbehilfe" featured on the first volume became a sensation within the dark electro club scene, and a full-length Wynardtage album debut, Waste of Time (2005), resulted. Also in 2005, Arnold had a hand in the full-length Acylum album Your Pain and the May-Fly EP Sturmfront, while in 2006 he released the collaborative EP Lords of Darkness, billed to "Wynardtage Meets Acylum," on X-Cem Records.

This output more or less marked the end of X-Cem Records, as Arnold went on to join the roster of the Dresden-based label Rupal Records. The label in turn released the second Wynardtage full-length album, Evil Mind (2006), which proved popular enough to break into the Top Five of the German alternative albums chart, and the label also released a joint EP featuring May-Fly and Wynardtage, The Face in the Mirror (2007), billed to "May-Fly Featuring Wynardtage." Later in 2007 the label released the third Wynardtage full-length album, Praise the Fallen, which, like its predecessor, proved popular enough to break into the Top Five of the German alternative albums chart. Praise the Fallen was subsequently reissued in a couple different "redux" editions, and a retrospective Wynardtage compilation, The Forgotten Sins 2002-2005 (2008), comprised mostly of previously unreleased material, was also released on Rupal Records.