THE APOCALYPTIC RIDERS - Samurai

THE APOCALYPTIC RIDERS
Samurai
Nuclear Blast Records
9/10




The Riders is a band that exhibits many differing personalities on this latest ripper, ‘Samurai’. When alternating between moods that are somber and serious as on ‘Silence Of Sorrow’ or bringing forth a fun and entertaining feel on ‘Rock N Roll’, they never fail to give the listener a one hundred percent effort.

The group really shines on the grooving ‘Hey-Ho’, which is highlighted by the vocalist Fuchs dynamic range and powerful charisma. The group displays skill at a variety of styles ranging from full tilt speed metal to intense breakdowns which are filled with an epic sense of majesty. Listeners who are looking for something that deviates from the norm will delight in the soaring melodies of ‘Wahnsinn’, a song that contains lyrics sung in the band’s native Deutsch, as are about half of the tracks on ‘Samurai’.

The Riders make music that is highly energetic and undeniably artistic; taking care to inject song parts into their music that hold the listener’s attention and will undoubtedly, have you thrashing about the room in a moshing frenzy.

Dr. Pest provides keyboard accents that give the band’s music a modern sound, using sounds that step away from the norm for a metal band which includes a keyboardist in its lineup.

The melodic guitar harmonies performed by axe slinger Pitrone on ‘Eruption’ add a very interesting touch and his work over the course of the record is technically sound and contains a wide range of emotion. On the track ‘Der Teufel’ the band combines black metal style blasting and operatic sounding breaks, which work very well for the group, however schizophrenic.
If you had to compare The Apocalyptic Riders to another ensemble, it would be Faith No More. Although The Riders are much heavier than FNM, they possess the same uncanny ability to put on differing hats successfully without painting themselves into a corner musically. It is an impressive feat for a group to portray so many emotions without fitting into a stereotype.

Bassist Volk-man and Sir G., the group’s drummer, make for a thunderous rhythm tag team, tearing through headbangers like ‘Reitermaniacs’ with severe energy and blunt force.

The Apocalyptic Riders has done it yet again with ‘Samurai’, a challenging effort that is certain to appeal to a wide variety of metal fans.


ERIN FOX © 2005 - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED