Die Apokalyptischen Reiter

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter
Die Apokalyptischen Reiter at Hamburg Fest 2018
Background information
Origin	Weimar, Germany
Genres	Melodic death metal Avant-garde metal Folk metal Power metal Symphonic metal Neue Deutsche Härte Death metal (early)
Years active	1995–present
Labels	Nuclear Blast, The End
Members	Fuchs Volk-Man Rohgarr Titus Maximus
Past members	Skelleton Pitrone Lady Cat-man[1]
Website	reitermania.de

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter (German for "The Apocalyptic Riders") is a German heavy metal band formed in Weimar in 1995.^[2]

Musical style

The band's original style, featured on their releases up to and including Allegro Barbaro and on a few songs on All You Need Is Love, consists of death/thrash metal blended with melodic compositions. In later albums, the death metal influence declined, resulting in less chaotic composition (often centered around a verse and chorus with a bridge and solo), more constant tempo, longer songs and clean vocals (although not exclusively). This resulted in a more polished and accessible sound. The band uses lyrics in both English and German with a shift from mainly English songs to more German ones on recent albums (Licht is entirely in German).

The release of Have a Nice Trip marked somewhat of a turning point for the band; although they retained the essence of heavy metal, they began experimenting with many other styles of music such as ambient and jazz.

Members

Current line-up

• Fuchs (Daniel Täumel) – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1995–present)
• Volk-Man (Volkmar Weber) – bass, screamed vocals (1995–present)
• Titus Maximus – lead guitar (2023–present)
• Rohgarr (Euch Rohgarr) – Drums (2023–present)

• Line-up at Rockharz Open Air 2018
• 
  Daniel "Fuchs" Täumel
• 
  Volkmar "Volk-Man" Weber
• 
  Mark "Dr. Pest" Szakul
• 
  Georg "Sir G." Lenhardt
• 
  Adrian "Ady" Vogel

Former members

• Skelleton – drums, screamed vocals (1995–2000)
• Pitrone (Peter Pfau) – lead guitar (2002–2008)
• Lady Cat-Man (Cathleen Gliemann) – lead guitar (2008–2009)
• Dr. Pest (Mark Szakul) – keyboards (1995–2021)
• Sir G. (Georg Lenhardt) – drums (2000–2023)
• Ady (Adrian Vogel) – lead guitar (2009–2023)

Timeline

Discography

Albums:

• 1997 – Soft & Stronger
• 1999 – Allegro Barbaro
• 2000 – All You Need Is Love
• 2003 – Have a Nice Trip (#95 in Germany)
• 2004 – Samurai
• 2006 – Riders on the Storm (#31 in Germany, #74 in Austria)
• 2008 – Licht (#29 in Germany, #49 in Austria, #88 in Switzerland)
• 2011 – Moral & Wahnsinn (#18 in Germany, # 41 in Austria, #61 in Switzerland)
• 2014 – Tief.Tiefer (#22 in Germany, #72 in Switzerland)
• 2017 – Der Rote Reiter (#10 in Germany, # 29 in Austria)
• 2021 – The Divine Horsemen
• 2022 – Wilde Kinder

Demos:

• 1996 – Firestorm

EPs:

• 1998 – Dschinghis Khan
• 2006 – Friede sei mit dir
• 2008 – Der Weg
• 2024 – Die Mutter des Teufels

DVDs:

• 2006 – Friede sei mit dir (live-DVD)
• 2008 – Tobsucht (DVD and two live-CDs)
• 2009 – Adrenalin

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Die Apokalyptischen Reiter.

• Official website
• Die Apokalyptischen Reiter at AllMusic
• Die Apokalyptischen Reiter discography at Discogs
• Official German fanclub
• Nuclear Blast Artist Profile