In 1990 Bartsch met Matton whose father had committed suicide when he was a young boy and his mother died of cancer shortly after that. In 1991 he joined the band Dark Tempest in which Matton was playing. They played a mix of black, thrash and classic heavy metal. They soon decided that they wanted to create a band that dealt more with suicide and death and therefore Bethlehem was created in September 1991. The band then signed a record deal in 1993 with the French Adipocere Records who released their first album in 1994 and since then Bethlehem has developed into one of the leading extreme metal bands in Germany. They have however had some problems with the authorities since there is a law in Germany that forbids the glorification of violence...

From www.tartareandesire.com