Friday, September 24, 2010

Tanzwut - Schattenreiter (2006)



As their name suggests, Tanzwut is not an English speaking band. In fact, they’re German (Tanzwut translates to dance-rage). Schattenreiter (Shadow Rider) is their latest album, released in 2006. Their sound is a mix of Neue Deutsche Härte (new German hardness) and medieval metal. The thing that stands out most about Tanzwut’s sound is their use of bagpipes.

Schattenreiter is a very heavy album, while still having a melodic quality through the use of synthesizers and bagpipes. The general feel of the album is that of dance and techno music, but it is far from synthetic. Schattenreiter makes a great soundtrack for racing games as well, because a majority of the songs are fast-paced & ‘jumpy’.

My favorite song is Toccata, which is a cover of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor in their musical style. A church organ provides the timeless melody while distorted guitars shred in the background. The vocals in this track sound very hymn-like during the verses and a chanting chorus completes the overall mood of the song.

So if you’re a bagpipe-enthusiast looking for some heavy music and you’re not bothered by the language barrier (unless you sprechen sie Deutsch), this album might be worth checking out.

5 comments:

  1. sounds interesting, gonnahave to give it a listen

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  2. Oooh - going to find now! This sounds awesome <3 Great post!

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  3. first time ive crome across a band on here i havent heard of. will check them out!

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  4. hmm. obscure music, eh? do you have any suggestions for middle-eastern-ish stuff? I dunno if that's outside your expertise or not, haha.
    will give these a go.

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