Published on Mar 14, 2000
Over the years, I’ve reviewed such a wide spectrum of hard rock
and heavy metal that very little surprises me. I’ve listened to
Nordic/Viking metal with so much machismo that the CD jewel box
dripped it. I’ve listened to Christian death metal; I’ve listened
to Satanic death metal. I’ve listened to hard rock from countries
that you wouldn’t expect to hear that kind of noise from.
But “German folk metal”? Rammstein meets Jethro Tull? That’s
kind of what listening to In Extremo and their American debut disc
Weckt die Toten! is like. Mixing electric guitars, bass and
drums with medieval instrumentation might sound like a recipe for
disaster, but this German septet not only pulls it off, but makes
it surprisingly enjoyable to listen to.
Now, I should mention right off the bat that I don’t understand
a word of German – and not a word of these songs are in English.
The short description of the band and a few of their songs in
English helps, but I wish there had been more for me to try and
comprehend. I mean, these guys could be singing recipes for
pancakes for all I know – not that it would matter anyway, ’cause
even though I don’t know what the hell they’re saying, that doesn’t
mean I can’t like the songs.
Needless to say, I’m at a little bit of a disadvantage when it
comes to talking about the individual songs on
Weckt die Toten! – as well as signaling out the members,
whose information was also written in German. (Maybe one of our
readers in Germany can help me out here?) But music is indeed a
universal language, and the songs that are featured therein speak a
powerful tongue. Tracks like “Ai vis lo lop,” “Hiemali Tempore” and
“Palästinalied” all speak at the incredible power that can be
achieved with the merging of electric and acoustic instrumentation.
The use of bagpipes and flutes on these 12 tracks is brilliant, and
it actually feels like this musical marriage is natural.
What impresses me about In Extremo is that the overall sound of
this combination is sincere. It’s one thing for a band to try
something new for commercial purposes. I may be totally wrong, but
I don’t get that vibe with this band. It truly feels in the music
like this is their calling, and that the members are pouring their
souls into these songs. Somehow, I don’t think you can fake
that.
Weckt die Toten! is an album you might not pick up on first
glance, but all it takes is one listen to show you that In Extremo
are most definitely on to something here. They already have a
second album out in the States (which we’ll get to very soon);
here’s hoping it does even a better job than this wonderful
disc.