Die Apokalyptischen Reiter - Samurai

*=Staff's pick	Wahnsinn Eruption Rock 'n' Roll Silence Of Sorrow Der Teufel* Reitermaniacs* Barmherzigkeit Per Aspera Ad Astra Lazy Day Die Sonne Scheint Roll My Heart* Hey - Ho Northern Lights

Genre	Yeah…right!	Fuchs	Vocals
Tracks	13	Fuchs	Guitar
Runningtime	49 Min.	Pitrone	Guitar
Label	Nuclear Blast	Volk-Man	Bass
Release	01 Nov. 2004	Sir G.	Drums
Country	Germany	Dr. Pest	Keyboards
Similar artists	See "genre"!

Punk, folk music, heavy metal, death metal, pop, reggae… it's easier to mention if you find a genre that is not to be recognised somewhere during this album. All accompanied by beautiful singing/ugly growling in German. This is the fifth album from the maniac five. But this is more than just funny shit. To be able to play so many different styles craves musicianship above and beyond the average. This, if anything, one could call progressive! Sure, some elements are borrowed from diverse groups, but the combination is definitely unique.

It's almost impossible to describe this music in words. Wahnsinn sounds like a breeding out of Rammstein and In Flames. Der Teufel is metal opera - and not in the way that Tobias Sammet use the word. Lazy day is sprung directly from Jamaica. Roll My Heart starts as something that could have been one of Blind Guardians softer moments and ends up in furious, bombastic folk-death metal. Everything might not work completely, but surprisingly many strange mixes of styles feel natural when Die Apokalyptischen Reiter serves them. You just need to be open minded when it comes to different genres of music. You probably also must like bands like In Flames, since the foundation to most of the songs are quite similar to those of the so-called "Gothenburg death".

The mighty German choirs, the skilful guitarplay and the tasteful keyboards (unusual, isn't it?) are other details that comes to my attention. So, if you got broad musical taste and a bit of humour (some tend to take music too serious, so the latter is not as given as it may seem), this could be worth checking out!

Production	Vocals	Compositions
7	7	7

Summary
7 chalices of 10 - David