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.

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.