diff --git a/src/DAMASK_spectral.f90 b/src/DAMASK_spectral.f90
index c907abe07..ee5af421c 100644
--- a/src/DAMASK_spectral.f90
+++ b/src/DAMASK_spectral.f90
@@ -156,9 +156,6 @@ program DAMASK_spectral
 ! init DAMASK (all modules)
  call CPFEM_initAll(el = 1_pInt, ip = 1_pInt)
  write(6,'(/,a)')   ' <<<+-  DAMASK_spectral init  -+>>>'
-#ifdef DEBUG
- write(6,'(/,a)') ' <<<+-     DEBUG version      -+>>>'
-#endif
  write(6,'(/,a,/)') ' Roters et al., Computational Materials Science, 2018'
  write(6,'(a15,a)') ' Current time: ',IO_timeStamp()
 #include "compilation_info.f90"
diff --git a/src/debug.f90 b/src/debug.f90
index 2a4edf28e..6debf84c2 100644
--- a/src/debug.f90
+++ b/src/debug.f90
@@ -109,6 +109,9 @@ subroutine debug_init
  character(len=65536)                     :: tag, line
 
  write(6,'(/,a)')   ' <<<+-  debug init  -+>>>'
+#ifdef DEBUG
+ write(6,'(a)') achar(27)//'[31m <<<+-  DEBUG version  -+>>>'//achar(27)//'[0m'
+#endif
  write(6,'(a15,a)') ' Current time: ',IO_timeStamp()
 #include "compilation_info.f90"