There are many strange bands in Heavy Metal. Strange for most people but magical and enchanting for the people that can understand their music. These bands usually choose to express their feelings and their ideas with not just plain Heavy Metal but with something more than just that. They choose to mix Heavy Metal with other sounds. They choose to express their feelings and their love for old medieval music by playing a mixture that is very beautiful and it travels us to other dimensions of space and time. In my opinion the greatest of these bands is In Extremo.
In Extremo formed in the mid 90's. From the very beginning they had shown their love for medieval music and their passion in writing songs in that kind of musical vein. So the combination of medieval music and Heavy Metal was a good challenge for them. They released their first album in 1997 and seven years later and after 7 releases respectively, they came to their 8th album under the name of Mein Rasend Herz.
At first I would like to introduce In Extremo's music to all those who don't know them, though I do not think that there are many anyway. In Extremo play, as I mentioned before, a very good musical mixture that has as its basis Heavy Metal music combined with medieval music played by bag pipes, harps and many other instruments such as horns. With the combination of these two kinds of music, the way that In Extremo play it, we have a very good musical outcome that manages to please us and to enchant us, taking us back to the middle ages, to the virgin forests of central Germany. All the lyrics are as always in their native language, German.
The atmosphere of Mein Rasend Herz makes you think of the past and makes you journey with your mind back to memories of past ages that you never experienced, but you know that they are somehow familiar through this album. All the songs express very strong feelings and especially the most folk and medieval ones express a dark, sorrowful lust for the times that the human spirit was freer than now and the Earth was the home of the human kind and was not being poisoned by the technological deeds, thus wasn't being destroyed by lust for money. These feelings are expressed by the music only. I do not speak German so I do not know what the lyrics are talking about but I believe that if I could understand the lyrics then I would experience all the feelings In Extremo want to express through this album.
Musically In Extremo still keep the high standards that they always had. Very good heavy guitar riffs, solid basis from the drums and the bass and excellent music from the bag pipes, the harps and the rest of the instruments. The vocals sound rough as always. Also the artwork is very good and I think that it represents the atmosphere of the album.
To conclude, I suggest this album to every fan of every kind of music. Many people will find a new guide to the world of dreams and memories. I believe that In Extremo are one of the values in our present days that keep reminding us how the real human spirit is.
- Album Highlights: Horizont, Macht Und Dummheit, Liam, Rasend Herz, Poc Vecem and Spielmann.