Wacky Metal Rules You!
Finntroll are, quite frankly, bloody mad. In Flames are, quite frankly, bloody loud. Die Apokalyptischen Reiter are, quite frankly, an excellent mix of the two. There's the bizarre uniqueness and urgency of a Finntroll song, with the anger, power and extremely well played guitar of an In Flames song. Ladies and Gentlemen, we're talking very, very good here.
Diving straight in, "Eruption" is a song which, if you don't enjoy, will strip you naked, spend all your money on sweets and then spit them all over you. Yes, it really is that good. The other song here that makes Charles Manson look like Mary Poppins is "Silence of Sorrow".
Normally, this is the part where I point out the negatives of this album. There are none. No, seriously. Every song has a redeeming quality to it and you won't forget about this album in a hurry.
Normally, this is the part where I explore the album in depth, expressing my feelings about the negative points. As previously stated, there is nothing wrong, and in metal, there's plenty to go wrong. There's no song which tries to make up a decent album length here. There's nobody who, having heard this album, will simply put on another one. Because "Samurai" makes you think, and if you refuse to think, it will slowly claw away at you from your mind, until you're just a gibbering Die Apokalyptischen Reiter craving idiot.
Just like "The Ring", once you've heard this album you will die in seven days. Well, actually, after you've heard this album you'll listen to it again within seven hours. Then you'll listen to it again. Then you'll sell all your other albums to raise enough cash to buy the Die Apokalyptischen Reiter catalouge. I know I will.
This music is exceptionally highly focused anger, power and speed, shot out at the speed of light into a CD for you to blow your mind with. Make sure you do.