### Die Apokalyptischen Reiter: Licht

#### 07/10/08 || Euthanatos

When I first listened to “Allegro Barbaro”, I was thoroughly impressed. These horsemen of the apocalypse had something different, a new sound, various interesting elements in their music. When their next release came around, “All You Need Is Love”, I thought this band was the greatest thing since cake, they had reached their peak and it was insanely absurd no one had heard of them. Then I kind of lost interest. The following records just seemed too forced, the band exploring new areas of their sound, but going more into the bizarre than the captivating. Even the acclaimed “Riders on the Storm” didn’t do much for me, although I could see quality in it.

Just to get those who aren’t familiar in the know, their sound is a kind of folk/epic death metal, it has a lot of melody and clean vocals, even though at its core it’s aggressive metal. It’s quite unique. They used to have some songs in English, but now, at least on this new album, it’s all German. After that little history lesson, let’s get to the point; “Licht”. When I first listened to it, I was immediately taken back to their earlier work, which was a good thing. After a few spins, I’m still convinced this is Die Apokalyptischen Reiter’s best album since “All You Need is Love”.

First of all, they’ve stripped down the music to the basics; not the basics of death metal, but their basics, the melody and aggressiveness that caught my eye (or ears) originally. Fuchs’ vocals are in the same vein as what you would hear in recent Primordial, for example; not a death metal growl, but somewhere between singing and screaming, which makes it all the more adequate for this kind of sound. The guitars have some great riffs and melodies going on, and the keyboards/piano are in excellent taste, something so rare. Listen to “Wir Sind das Licht”, I think it’s the perfect example of how rich and yet to the point this album is. Hopefully Die Apokalyptischen Reiter have once again found their way and will continue to entertain us, instead of only themselves.

The cover: Reminds me of Rammstein’s debut cover. In other words, gay. By the way, if “Adrenalin” isn’t a Rammstein homage, I don’t know what is.

7.5 über-Germans out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2008
- Label: Nuclear Blast
- Website: www.reitermania.de
- Band
- Fuchs: vocals
- Lady Cat-Man: guitars
- Dr. Pest: keyboards
- Volk-Man: bass, vocals
- Sir G.: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Es wird schlimmer
- 02. Auf die Liebe
- 03. Wir sind das Licht
- 04. Nach der Ebbe
- 05. Adrenalin
- 06. Der Elende
- 07. Heut` ist der Tag
- 08. Wir hoffen
- 09. Der Weg
- 10. Ein Lichtlein
- 11. Auferstehen soll in Herrlichkeit