The  Metal music from Germany has always been present worldwide since the 80’s with bands like SCORPIONS, ACCEPT and HALLOWEEN. Germany also has a variety of Metal genres that were introduced to the world afterwards with bands like KREATOR and SODOM that in my view, are completely the opposite of the first ones mentioned. There are also a lot of local bands singing in German that will not have the same reach if they sang in English. One of these examples is the band HARPYIE from Bad Oeynhausen (Western Germany) that was created in 2012 and are now releasing their 8th album Voodoo via Metalville Records. This makes me think that they already had the time to build their name in the local Metal scene in the last 12 years.

The sound of the band is defined by themselves as Folk Metal but it did not sound much like that is the first track that names the album “Voodoo”. It sounds more like Metal than folk to me. Good guitar riffs tuned down to the maximum and some moments of softness spreaded in the melody. The band gets a little more folky in “Ikonoclast” and you can hear the clear influence of the greats of German Metal specially RAMMSTEIN. Since these guys have been cooking for some time already, the songs are well structured and performed. The production and recording is also top notch. The poppier “Omen” starts and it is the more commercial side of the band coming through. Certain parts of this tune can be used in a dance festival. Interesting, but not my cup of tea. What is definitely my cup of tea is the next track “Zombiemann”that is proper heavy and epic despite the electronic drum parts. The real drummer Kayran is quite good and shows some double bass shenanigans on this track.

The band has a touch of epicness in every song and this means that despite singing in German, the choruses are memorable like in “Atreju” and the good “Schildmaid” that again brings the Folk closer to the Metal. The band also uses some alternative instruments that are well present in the mix such as Lute and the Hurdy Gurdy. This second one I had to look at as I could not believe a musical instrument with this funny name. To my surprise it exists and it looks like an acoustic guitar in a weird shape. You can hear it in every song and it is performed by Brian exclusively. Brian the Hurdy Gurdy player. Cool. We continued with “Herz aus Eisen” and the introduction reminded me of KRAFTWERK that could be another German left side influence. The singer Aello die Windböe shows some more vocal range as the tracks go by. Good performance on this track and also in the next “Exit Game” in which the chorus is the only thing you may hear in English in this album. Good chorus though. HARPYIE is not a fan of histrionic guitar solos despite having competent guitar players in Raya and Podargo der Schnellfliegende (say it 3 times fast!) that also plays the lute as you may hear in another highlight “Fischer Fischer”. The band does not have a bass player or a keyboard player credited despite tones of keys in almost every song. I was surprised that we are getting to the end of the album and no ballad so far. All songs' vocal lines are very melodic like in “Ich will Dich” and the energy of the heavy riffs are a perfect match.

The use of the Folk instruments are incorporated wisely with the heaviness of it all. We end our journey with another good track “Nimmerland’. All songs have memorable choruses and good musical arrangements with a touch of medieval folklore in almost every track. I have been reviewing some bands from Germany lately and they usually do not disappoint. This is another example. If you like epic melodies to sing along, this is the album…if you speak German or not.