Die Apokalyptischen Reiter
Weimar, Thuringia, is an area of a great historic importance in today's Germany, and I'm reminding here the well known Republic Of Weimar that some of you should know what is all about with, and with a tumultuous past that has been certified since 899, Weimar is proud of its "celebrated residents" including here: Walter Gropius, Henry van de Velde, Lucas Cranach old, Bach, Goethe, Schiller, Herder, Franz Liszt or Nietzsche; in the most recent period being the home to one of the most notorious bands in the history of Pagan Death Metal I name here Die Apokalyptischen Reiter! Founded 16 years ago, the German band has just released their new album called "Moral & Wahnsinn"; the 8th one to the present and a product that was released by the German label Nuclear Blast! Die Apokalyptischen Reiter being a name that can not leave indifferent any fan of extreme Metal I decided that a discussion on this hot topic is appropriate! And here's what came out after talking with Volk-Man, the leader of the band!
Arcana Noctis: Hello everyone! How are you and what the latest news from your band's camp these days, when "Moral & Wahnsinn", your last studio record has just seen the daylight and people seemed to be quite attracted by its musical content?
Volk-Man: We just finished our one month tour through Germany, Switzerland and Austria, had a few days off and I'm sitting right now in Orlandina Club, St. Petersburg, Russia, as our Russian tour starts here today. The last days and weeks were full of madness, insanity and memorable moments. First we cracked with "Moral & Wahnsinn" the official Top 20 charts in Germany, which means the highest position ever in the bands career, following the mentioned tour, which marked another milestone in the bands career, as we have almost doubled our crowd compared to the tour for last album "Licht". I think, the long hard work with the band, which is over 15 years on the road, is noticed by more and more people. People really, really filled our guestbooks at various social network platforms with nice comments, so the climate and feeling inside the D.A.R. camp could not be better.
Arcana Noctis: In the beginning, why don't you tell us a few words about the feedback that you already received on "Moral & Wahnsinn" and how people's reaction on your live events went on knowing that most of your fans still are in loved by your old releases?
Volk-Man: I think, that majority of people prefers the newer stuff, we had a very long setlist which contained songs from all records and even it was fun to play really old shit, we have to admit, that reactions to that songs where not that overwhelming as we expected, when we rehearsed the stuff. I think, D.A.R. grew massively with the last three albums and there are many people in the venues that never had a listen to the older stuff. D.A.R. has a very unique career and there is a lot of moving inside the fan base. We have these old school lunatics, that know D.A.R. since the demo, and then there are the mentioned young people, that own maybe only one or two of our newer records. There are a lot of writing battles at our band's forum, which album is best in our career, bla bla. But I think, when you have eight albums out, it's pretty normal that the crowd is somehow split into different groups. The good thing is that the new album fascinates the old school as well as the new school. We played the complete album live on our tour and every fucking song was really incredibly embraced by the fans. We see us as messengers between styles and times, so I think; a D.A.R. show cannot be described only with a few words.
Arcana Noctis: Being for the first time in our webzine's attention, I want you to tell us how it came to the band name and what D.A.R. means (Knights of the Apocalypse) in the views of the band members? Do you think that this name and your musical and lyrical universes fit together 100% and will be your description of the whole extreme monolith formed by these elements mentioned above?
Volk-Man: I think, until our third record the band name and the lyrics fitted very well in the well known meaning of world downfall, apocalypse, end of mankind topics. We were just angry teenagers, the band name simply was the most extreme thing, we could ever imagine, because in a society with a Christian background, there is after all, nothing more extreme than the description of the end of times, as it is written in holy bible's revelation. But over the years of course our view on the world changed, we got older, allowed more grey tones step in between the teenage black and white digital view. From the today's perspective, apocalypse is, if you want to name it like this, a multi causal, philosophic topic, that can be discussed with a lot of passion. Metaphoric spoken, beside the obvious apocalypse that might come some day, you can also name your inner struggles of your mind as a mental apocalypse, a lifetime challenge you have to face every day. I don't see apocalypse in its very limited definition of destruction, because after an apocalypse something new will rise from the ashes, a better world. It just depends how you define it.
Arcana Noctis: Let's talk a little bit about your last studio album just released through Nuclear Blast Records; and it will be very interesting if you could introduce us, fans and media, this new opus by revealing some technical details about it and other stuff like that, of course that an introduction of each song is more than welcomed!
Volk-Man: "Die Boten" ("The Messengers") - A song about the band. A powerful Metal hymn to all our fans, which join us. Chorus: "We are messengers of a new time / we bring light to darkness".
"Gib Dich Hin" ("Abandon Yourself") - Powerful song about bringing yourself to the peak of ecstasy. Chorus: "Abandon yourself / we are waiting for you".
"Hammer Oder Amboss" ("Hammer Or Anvil") - Just simple: Chorus: "Are you hammer or anvil / are you still living or you are you dead yet?"
"Dir gehört Nichts"("You Own Nothing") - It's about life that nothing, that you think you "own" is really yours. The only thing, that you really own – is the moment of time! Chorus: "You own nothing / just the moment!".
"Dr. Pest" - Our epic song about the unbeaten master of insanity and madness, Dr. Pest. Just thrilling... video for this song is out soon.
"Moral & Wahnsinn" ("Morality & Insanity") - The title track. Nothing to add here, because story behind was described already in the answers for the cover art work. Chorus: "Insanity is phantas / morality is a dry womb".
"Erwache" ("Awake") - A really dynamic song for the young generation... Chorus: "You are the hope of this world / give your power to it / awake from sleeping and protect the world".
"Heimkehr" ("Homecoming") - An instrumental, really epic in the vein of Hans Zimmer, Lord Of The Rings...
"Wir Reiten" ("We Ride") - A calm, sad song about coming apocalypse.
"Hört Auf" ("Stop") - Stop reproduction, mankind does not deserve to survive. Really a nihilistic perspective, really mean and evil.
"Ein Liebes Lied" ("A Nice Song") - Something positive at the end. Great chorus: "When peace comes to you!".
Arcana Noctis: Know that the last elements that you have incorporated to D.A.R. music, and I remember in here: the Spanish and Arabian influences, Jazz trumpets and Mariachi rhythms are simply brilliant! And if we add in here some other references such as apocalyptic choirs, anguish riffs, ambiance and an atmosphere which brings in front of us some Lacrimosa and Rammstein influences, it seems that you were in the mood in the moment of composing "Moral & Wahnsinn", am I right?
Volk-Man: Every mood is right mood, a musician cannot choose. Sometimes inspiration kisses you on the next corner. We take what we get. Of course, being around in the world (not only on tours, we also like travelling a lot) brings a lot of things back home to good old Germany. We were always fascinated by musical elements from other parts of the world. Somehow, D.A.R. is very Fusion, very Crossover, even if this words sound a bit conservative and outdated. I remember times as a backpacker, when bought a huge Sitar in Udaipur in India, which was pain in the ass to carry all the time in public busses, trains and plains that would be fun to have on a future release of us. But not every instrument fits; there is no competition at all, to have all this on a record. A lot of things happen in the studio, like the Mariachi stuff on "Moral & Wahnsinn". Our producer just said one day, there would maybe a trumpet and trombone fit very well, so it was a try that worked out well, so it's now on the record. But such things are not really planned. Usually we jam, nail some riffs and beats together and let the song some time to breathe. After a certain time, you begin to understand the hidden vibes of the song and then it's easy to get the things ready. Like a painter. It makes no sense to discuss the exact colour of a red tone, before you don't know that main basic colour of the picture. This summer, we will rent a houseboat in the Netherlands for one week, just shipping around, have a good time, music on the water... maybe something cool happens. We will let you know.
Arcana Noctis: I also discovered that you are one of the few bands that love to start/end an album with fabulous tracks and on "Moral & Wahnsinn" such things are extremely present! But "Moral & Wahnsinn" is still considered an album quite cornered and without a sense of adventure & excitement! This is the way that many people saw you last album, but people change, music change, everything change! I suppose that you won't agree with such ideas, but what will be your point of view when such comments try to influence your fans and listeners?
Volk-Man: I agree that "Licht" probably was brighter, somehow nicer and more in one mood, the new album has a lot more challenging things, more ups and downs, way more colours, just compare both artworks and I think, they represent very much the essence, the core of the albums. We got a lot of fantastic feedback and many compare this album with "Samurai", which was in its own way very, very strange, we had Black Metal, we had Reggae, so a big, big variation in styles. What I really like is, that "Moral & Wahnsinn" seems to unite older and newer fans of the band, what sometimes seems to be a mission impossible. It's packed with energy. Energy does not mean to be all the time aggressive. For instance a song like "Wir Reiten" which is musically a very calm, slow song... but the lyrics are very sad as it is a description of the day of world downfall, the last day on Earth. Usually Metal bands play such a song as extreme as they can, because somehow apocalypse and fast playing seem to be like a unwritten rule in the Metal universe. We did the opposite and in result, the song is so intense (especially live on the stage), the intensity of the words is a real bone breaker. OK, what I want to tell you with this: fans would never be happy if we would ask, shall we do a soft song. In times of Facebook & Co. a lot of opinions come in every day on our channels. It would be a lie to say, we are not affected by this and of course, there are always big expectations from the fans. But it is important to have a line that no one can cross. The core, the house, the family, that's us 5. An no matter what others say, only our opinion counts. If we are not convinced by a song, no one will. So we thank every fan who writes a comment, but a band should never stop to decide alone. As you mentioned, fans opinion can change, times in general change. A record for us is a milestone in time, conserved for eternity. It does stand for a certain time period and it makes always 100% sense at the time, when you write and record it. But of course it can sound weird and strange, if you listen to it 5 years later. We are caught in the present; future and history have no meaning when you write an album. Later, when the album is done, you can start comparing. Comparing is fun and probably the essence of fan-being. Everybody compares things.
Arcana Noctis: Apparently, the musical evolution of this new full length began so long ago since the days of "Riders On The Storm", it continued on "Licht" and on "Moral & Wahnsinn" it got a more effectiveness and compactness attitude! Also, for the second time you decided to play all the songs only in German; an interesting idea if we take in consideration that this is the way that D.A.R. seems at 100% it musical universe! How would you explain all these changes and why D.A.R. feels much better playing songs only in German?
Volk-Man: The band name is German, we are Germans, and so singing in German is the most natural thing. We started with English, as we thought; maybe we have to do it like this. But over the years, we felt, that the expression in our native language is much more interesting, ever for a non German speaking listener. It has more impact, more deepness. Beside that, Fuchs is a really talented writer, who loves to use this rich German language for poetic and very metaphoric lyrics. We often tried to translate it into English, but as German has almost double amount of words compared to English, it was always like cutting the essential parts of the words. I don't wanna be rude like S.O.D. "Speak English Or Die", but fans outside Germany need to understand, that we as artists feel our music is not complete without tasty and well placed German words between chords, verses and choruses.
Arcana Noctis: For an album that came three years after the release of the "Licht", many people is considering "Moral & Wahnsinn" to be a relatively short album, just 37 minutes for 11 compositions, and that leaves somewhat incomplete the entire musical universe in many reviewers point of view! How do you see such comments and what will be the main important attraction point of this album which I consider it to be probably the most impressive work that you did until now?
Volk-Man: You are not sitting there with a stop watch when you compose. I don't understand this complaining about missing 3 minutes to have entry to the magic so important Metal 40 minutes minimum world. If you can't convince your fans in 30 minutes, you will not in 40 or 50 minutes. I like short albums like "Reign in Blood".
Arcana Noctis: Also, the gang is blamed that on the new album it used too many clear voices and even ballads lines which in the end affects too much the final result of "Moral & Wahnsinn"! Is quite interesting to read or hear such comments coming from people who marked your last opus quite good! Do you think that your status in the extreme Metal scene could help you from time to time when things aren't so good?
Volk-Man: There is always complaining about clear vocals since we used it first on "All You Need Is Love". Death Metal kids have a very narrow tolerance in case of "singing". Strange, we still have so many fans in Death Metal scene; I don't see our music in a vein of this Metal typical run for extremes. We basically describe situations in our life that can be good or bad, bright or dark. All this is connected with the music and the music always follows the inner mood. We were never a band that wanted to sound like bla bla. If you want, we are a completely idol-free-driven, post-communistic anti-hero band with big passion for translating emotions into touching music. We never accepted borders and walls (because we had to live way too long behind one), we just follow our hearts.
Arcana Noctis: Quite recently you have released a video version of "Dr. Pest", a song that was officially released in single digital format on February 4th 2011! In your point of view, is "Dr. Pest" the most representative composition of this last album then?
Volk-Man: It's surely this most strange and unique thing we ever did. It's a disaster for any commercial interest of our record company, it's a anti-single with a killer riff, Kerry King would die for!
Arcana Noctis: "Moral & Wahnsinn", was released on 25th February on Nuclear Blast, will benefit, through others, by a mini-tour in Russia; a live activity that will bring you firstly on the German, Austrian, Swiss and Hungarian scenes! Do you prepare a special show for these new live appearances, or D.A.R. is just extreme Metal and total madness?
Volk-Man: Both tours are over now, it marked biggest success ever in bands history. It was a well planned (yes, we Germans like that) crusade through our key markets, I think, we invested so much money in show effects and items, that everybody was really, really hoping, enough people would show up to cover all costs. Big truck and nightliner, tonns for gear, lights, technicians. I don't like when people think this band is just a bunch of freaks. Only because we don't fit to any descriptions of the normal world. We are a hard working collective, we basically have everything under our control, that begins with booking crew, busses or flights, get permits for highway drivers, border carnets, inventing and crafting show elements and effects, design of shirts. We pissed on so many doors of so called managements that steal 20% of bands income just for phoning 2 times a day. We learned, that no one will help you in the business, if you don't get it done, no one will.
Arcana Noctis: It also seems that your name will be on various flyers of some important European festivals among which could be mentioned: With Full Force, Metalcamp, Rüt'n'Rock Open Air or Lichtenfels Open Air! What other festivals do you want to appear on the main event, and what chances do we have to see you at the Hellfest, Wacken or Party.San Metal Open Air?
Volk-Man: Because of the big tour in spring 2011, we just play a few open air shows this summer. 2012 will be much more, also a few you mentioned.
Arcana Noctis: What other live events could you announce for the second part of this 2011 year, and what will be your visual surprise for fans and extreme Metal souls that will deicide to see Die Apokalyptischen Reiter on live? Are you preparing something in this way? Is Die Apokaliptischen Reiter a band that loves "landscapes" in its live acts?
Volk-Man: We are working on a best-of album, which will also contain some brand new recordings, we will do on a houseboat in July. It will be very different stuff compared to the last album. We don't want to have a regular double CD with best of and b-sides stuff. We just returned from some days off after Russian assault and this summer will be fantastic, as we don't have any pressure. Just a few shows, a lot of time for travelling and jamming around. I think, we will do some shows in Italy and France in autumn and we are about to headline upcoming Paganfest in February/March 2012 and this will be also the time for our beloved U.K. fans to get D.A.R. back. Because of some policies I cannot comment at the moment, we had no chance to be on a bigger U.K. summer festival 2011, but be sure 2012 we will be back.
Arcana Noctis: In the end, what future plans do you have for your band and why not when are you going to start working on a new material supposing that you still have some riffs or musical lines rest from the working sessions that you had on "Moral & Wahnsinn"?
Volk-Man: I think this I already answered. The next things to come: new CD in 2013 and also a new DVD will come in 2013/14 with a very big D.A.R. history part. Much work ahead, but now summer and peace.
Arcana Noctis: Man that will be all for now, but I promise you that you'll hear about me each time when Die Apokalyptischen Reiter will release a new full length! If you have something to add in the end, or a message that you want to fill to your fans around the world this is your moment! Cheers and see you around someday!
Volk-Man: Thanks for the interview. Please check spelling and grammar, this interview was answered partly on our Russian tour and on the way back home to Germany. Usually phoners are easier to handle, but your questions were really interesting, so it was fun to answer.
Arcana Noctis: Hello everyone! How are you and what the latest news from your band's camp these days, when "Moral & Wahnsinn", your last studio record has just seen the daylight and people seemed to be quite attracted by its musical content?
Volk-Man: We just finished our one month tour through Germany, Switzerland and Austria, had a few days off and I'm sitting right now in Orlandina Club, St. Petersburg, Russia, as our Russian tour starts here today. The last days and weeks were full of madness, insanity and memorable moments. First we cracked with "Moral & Wahnsinn" the official Top 20 charts in Germany, which means the highest position ever in the bands career, following the mentioned tour, which marked another milestone in the bands career, as we have almost doubled our crowd compared to the tour for last album "Licht". I think, the long hard work with the band, which is over 15 years on the road, is noticed by more and more people. People really, really filled our guestbooks at various social network platforms with nice comments, so the climate and feeling inside the D.A.R. camp could not be better.Arcana Noctis: In the beginning, why don't you tell us a few words about the feedback that you already received on "Moral & Wahnsinn" and how people's reaction on your live events went on knowing that most of your fans still are in loved by your old releases?
Volk-Man: I think, that majority of people prefers the newer stuff, we had a very long setlist which contained songs from all records and even it was fun to play really old shit, we have to admit, that reactions to that songs where not that overwhelming as we expected, when we rehearsed the stuff. I think, D.A.R. grew massively with the last three albums and there are many people in the venues that never had a listen to the older stuff. D.A.R. has a very unique career and there is a lot of moving inside the fan base. We have these old school lunatics, that know D.A.R. since the demo, and then there are the mentioned young people, that own maybe only one or two of our newer records. There are a lot of writing battles at our band's forum, which album is best in our career, bla bla. But I think, when you have eight albums out, it's pretty normal that the crowd is somehow split into different groups. The good thing is that the new album fascinates the old school as well as the new school. We played the complete album live on our tour and every fucking song was really incredibly embraced by the fans. We see us as messengers between styles and times, so I think; a D.A.R. show cannot be described only with a few words.
Arcana Noctis: Being for the first time in our webzine's attention, I want you to tell us how it came to the band name and what D.A.R. means (Knights of the Apocalypse) in the views of the band members? Do you think that this name and your musical and lyrical universes fit together 100% and will be your description of the whole extreme monolith formed by these elements mentioned above?
Volk-Man: I think, until our third record the band name and the lyrics fitted very well in the well known meaning of world downfall, apocalypse, end of mankind topics. We were just angry teenagers, the band name simply was the most extreme thing, we could ever imagine, because in a society with a Christian background, there is after all, nothing more extreme than the description of the end of times, as it is written in holy bible's revelation. But over the years of course our view on the world changed, we got older, allowed more grey tones step in between the teenage black and white digital view. From the today's perspective, apocalypse is, if you want to name it like this, a multi causal, philosophic topic, that can be discussed with a lot of passion. Metaphoric spoken, beside the obvious apocalypse that might come some day, you can also name your inner struggles of your mind as a mental apocalypse, a lifetime challenge you have to face every day. I don't see apocalypse in its very limited definition of destruction, because after an apocalypse something new will rise from the ashes, a better world. It just depends how you define it.
Arcana Noctis: Let's talk a little bit about your last studio album just released through Nuclear Blast Records; and it will be very interesting if you could introduce us, fans and media, this new opus by revealing some technical details about it and other stuff like that, of course that an introduction of each song is more than welcomed!
Volk-Man: "Die Boten" ("The Messengers") - A song about the band. A powerful Metal hymn to all our fans, which join us. Chorus: "We are messengers of a new time / we bring light to darkness".
"Gib Dich Hin" ("Abandon Yourself") - Powerful song about bringing yourself to the peak of ecstasy. Chorus: "Abandon yourself / we are waiting for you".
"Hammer Oder Amboss" ("Hammer Or Anvil") - Just simple: Chorus: "Are you hammer or anvil / are you still living or you are you dead yet?"
"Dir gehört Nichts"("You Own Nothing") - It's about life that nothing, that you think you "own" is really yours. The only thing, that you really own – is the moment of time! Chorus: "You own nothing / just the moment!".
"Dr. Pest" - Our epic song about the unbeaten master of insanity and madness, Dr. Pest. Just thrilling... video for this song is out soon.
"Moral & Wahnsinn" ("Morality & Insanity") - The title track. Nothing to add here, because story behind was described already in the answers for the cover art work. Chorus: "Insanity is phantas / morality is a dry womb".
"Erwache" ("Awake") - A really dynamic song for the young generation... Chorus: "You are the hope of this world / give your power to it / awake from sleeping and protect the world".
"Heimkehr" ("Homecoming") - An instrumental, really epic in the vein of Hans Zimmer, Lord Of The Rings...
"Wir Reiten" ("We Ride") - A calm, sad song about coming apocalypse.
"Hört Auf" ("Stop") - Stop reproduction, mankind does not deserve to survive. Really a nihilistic perspective, really mean and evil.
"Ein Liebes Lied" ("A Nice Song") - Something positive at the end. Great chorus: "When peace comes to you!".
Arcana Noctis: Know that the last elements that you have incorporated to D.A.R. music, and I remember in here: the Spanish and Arabian influences, Jazz trumpets and Mariachi rhythms are simply brilliant! And if we add in here some other references such as apocalyptic choirs, anguish riffs, ambiance and an atmosphere which brings in front of us some Lacrimosa and Rammstein influences, it seems that you were in the mood in the moment of composing "Moral & Wahnsinn", am I right?
Volk-Man: Every mood is right mood, a musician cannot choose. Sometimes inspiration kisses you on the next corner. We take what we get. Of course, being around in the world (not only on tours, we also like travelling a lot) brings a lot of things back home to good old Germany. We were always fascinated by musical elements from other parts of the world. Somehow, D.A.R. is very Fusion, very Crossover, even if this words sound a bit conservative and outdated. I remember times as a backpacker, when bought a huge Sitar in Udaipur in India, which was pain in the ass to carry all the time in public busses, trains and plains that would be fun to have on a future release of us. But not every instrument fits; there is no competition at all, to have all this on a record. A lot of things happen in the studio, like the Mariachi stuff on "Moral & Wahnsinn". Our producer just said one day, there would maybe a trumpet and trombone fit very well, so it was a try that worked out well, so it's now on the record. But such things are not really planned. Usually we jam, nail some riffs and beats together and let the song some time to breathe. After a certain time, you begin to understand the hidden vibes of the song and then it's easy to get the things ready. Like a painter. It makes no sense to discuss the exact colour of a red tone, before you don't know that main basic colour of the picture. This summer, we will rent a houseboat in the Netherlands for one week, just shipping around, have a good time, music on the water... maybe something cool happens. We will let you know.
Arcana Noctis: I also discovered that you are one of the few bands that love to start/end an album with fabulous tracks and on "Moral & Wahnsinn" such things are extremely present! But "Moral & Wahnsinn" is still considered an album quite cornered and without a sense of adventure & excitement! This is the way that many people saw you last album, but people change, music change, everything change! I suppose that you won't agree with such ideas, but what will be your point of view when such comments try to influence your fans and listeners?
Volk-Man: I agree that "Licht" probably was brighter, somehow nicer and more in one mood, the new album has a lot more challenging things, more ups and downs, way more colours, just compare both artworks and I think, they represent very much the essence, the core of the albums. We got a lot of fantastic feedback and many compare this album with "Samurai", which was in its own way very, very strange, we had Black Metal, we had Reggae, so a big, big variation in styles. What I really like is, that "Moral & Wahnsinn" seems to unite older and newer fans of the band, what sometimes seems to be a mission impossible. It's packed with energy. Energy does not mean to be all the time aggressive. For instance a song like "Wir Reiten" which is musically a very calm, slow song... but the lyrics are very sad as it is a description of the day of world downfall, the last day on Earth. Usually Metal bands play such a song as extreme as they can, because somehow apocalypse and fast playing seem to be like a unwritten rule in the Metal universe. We did the opposite and in result, the song is so intense (especially live on the stage), the intensity of the words is a real bone breaker. OK, what I want to tell you with this: fans would never be happy if we would ask, shall we do a soft song. In times of Facebook & Co. a lot of opinions come in every day on our channels. It would be a lie to say, we are not affected by this and of course, there are always big expectations from the fans. But it is important to have a line that no one can cross. The core, the house, the family, that's us 5. An no matter what others say, only our opinion counts. If we are not convinced by a song, no one will. So we thank every fan who writes a comment, but a band should never stop to decide alone. As you mentioned, fans opinion can change, times in general change. A record for us is a milestone in time, conserved for eternity. It does stand for a certain time period and it makes always 100% sense at the time, when you write and record it. But of course it can sound weird and strange, if you listen to it 5 years later. We are caught in the present; future and history have no meaning when you write an album. Later, when the album is done, you can start comparing. Comparing is fun and probably the essence of fan-being. Everybody compares things.
Arcana Noctis: Apparently, the musical evolution of this new full length began so long ago since the days of "Riders On The Storm", it continued on "Licht" and on "Moral & Wahnsinn" it got a more effectiveness and compactness attitude! Also, for the second time you decided to play all the songs only in German; an interesting idea if we take in consideration that this is the way that D.A.R. seems at 100% it musical universe! How would you explain all these changes and why D.A.R. feels much better playing songs only in German?
Volk-Man: The band name is German, we are Germans, and so singing in German is the most natural thing. We started with English, as we thought; maybe we have to do it like this. But over the years, we felt, that the expression in our native language is much more interesting, ever for a non German speaking listener. It has more impact, more deepness. Beside that, Fuchs is a really talented writer, who loves to use this rich German language for poetic and very metaphoric lyrics. We often tried to translate it into English, but as German has almost double amount of words compared to English, it was always like cutting the essential parts of the words. I don't wanna be rude like S.O.D. "Speak English Or Die", but fans outside Germany need to understand, that we as artists feel our music is not complete without tasty and well placed German words between chords, verses and choruses.Arcana Noctis: For an album that came three years after the release of the "Licht", many people is considering "Moral & Wahnsinn" to be a relatively short album, just 37 minutes for 11 compositions, and that leaves somewhat incomplete the entire musical universe in many reviewers point of view! How do you see such comments and what will be the main important attraction point of this album which I consider it to be probably the most impressive work that you did until now?
Volk-Man: You are not sitting there with a stop watch when you compose. I don't understand this complaining about missing 3 minutes to have entry to the magic so important Metal 40 minutes minimum world. If you can't convince your fans in 30 minutes, you will not in 40 or 50 minutes. I like short albums like "Reign in Blood".
Arcana Noctis: Also, the gang is blamed that on the new album it used too many clear voices and even ballads lines which in the end affects too much the final result of "Moral & Wahnsinn"! Is quite interesting to read or hear such comments coming from people who marked your last opus quite good! Do you think that your status in the extreme Metal scene could help you from time to time when things aren't so good?
Volk-Man: There is always complaining about clear vocals since we used it first on "All You Need Is Love". Death Metal kids have a very narrow tolerance in case of "singing". Strange, we still have so many fans in Death Metal scene; I don't see our music in a vein of this Metal typical run for extremes. We basically describe situations in our life that can be good or bad, bright or dark. All this is connected with the music and the music always follows the inner mood. We were never a band that wanted to sound like bla bla. If you want, we are a completely idol-free-driven, post-communistic anti-hero band with big passion for translating emotions into touching music. We never accepted borders and walls (because we had to live way too long behind one), we just follow our hearts.
Arcana Noctis: Quite recently you have released a video version of "Dr. Pest", a song that was officially released in single digital format on February 4th 2011! In your point of view, is "Dr. Pest" the most representative composition of this last album then?
Volk-Man: It's surely this most strange and unique thing we ever did. It's a disaster for any commercial interest of our record company, it's a anti-single with a killer riff, Kerry King would die for!
Arcana Noctis: "Moral & Wahnsinn", was released on 25th February on Nuclear Blast, will benefit, through others, by a mini-tour in Russia; a live activity that will bring you firstly on the German, Austrian, Swiss and Hungarian scenes! Do you prepare a special show for these new live appearances, or D.A.R. is just extreme Metal and total madness?
Volk-Man: Both tours are over now, it marked biggest success ever in bands history. It was a well planned (yes, we Germans like that) crusade through our key markets, I think, we invested so much money in show effects and items, that everybody was really, really hoping, enough people would show up to cover all costs. Big truck and nightliner, tonns for gear, lights, technicians. I don't like when people think this band is just a bunch of freaks. Only because we don't fit to any descriptions of the normal world. We are a hard working collective, we basically have everything under our control, that begins with booking crew, busses or flights, get permits for highway drivers, border carnets, inventing and crafting show elements and effects, design of shirts. We pissed on so many doors of so called managements that steal 20% of bands income just for phoning 2 times a day. We learned, that no one will help you in the business, if you don't get it done, no one will.
Arcana Noctis: It also seems that your name will be on various flyers of some important European festivals among which could be mentioned: With Full Force, Metalcamp, Rüt'n'Rock Open Air or Lichtenfels Open Air! What other festivals do you want to appear on the main event, and what chances do we have to see you at the Hellfest, Wacken or Party.San Metal Open Air?
Volk-Man: Because of the big tour in spring 2011, we just play a few open air shows this summer. 2012 will be much more, also a few you mentioned.
Arcana Noctis: What other live events could you announce for the second part of this 2011 year, and what will be your visual surprise for fans and extreme Metal souls that will deicide to see Die Apokalyptischen Reiter on live? Are you preparing something in this way? Is Die Apokaliptischen Reiter a band that loves "landscapes" in its live acts?
Volk-Man: We are working on a best-of album, which will also contain some brand new recordings, we will do on a houseboat in July. It will be very different stuff compared to the last album. We don't want to have a regular double CD with best of and b-sides stuff. We just returned from some days off after Russian assault and this summer will be fantastic, as we don't have any pressure. Just a few shows, a lot of time for travelling and jamming around. I think, we will do some shows in Italy and France in autumn and we are about to headline upcoming Paganfest in February/March 2012 and this will be also the time for our beloved U.K. fans to get D.A.R. back. Because of some policies I cannot comment at the moment, we had no chance to be on a bigger U.K. summer festival 2011, but be sure 2012 we will be back.
Arcana Noctis: In the end, what future plans do you have for your band and why not when are you going to start working on a new material supposing that you still have some riffs or musical lines rest from the working sessions that you had on "Moral & Wahnsinn"?
Volk-Man: I think this I already answered. The next things to come: new CD in 2013 and also a new DVD will come in 2013/14 with a very big D.A.R. history part. Much work ahead, but now summer and peace.
Arcana Noctis: Man that will be all for now, but I promise you that you'll hear about me each time when Die Apokalyptischen Reiter will release a new full length! If you have something to add in the end, or a message that you want to fill to your fans around the world this is your moment! Cheers and see you around someday!
Volk-Man: Thanks for the interview. Please check spelling and grammar, this interview was answered partly on our Russian tour and on the way back home to Germany. Usually phoners are easier to handle, but your questions were really interesting, so it was fun to answer.