In Extremo

"Sünder ohne Zügel"
(Metal Blade)  

This being my first taste of the band, I honestly did not know what to expect from In Extremo, beyond a vague impression cobbled together from the myriad reviews that I read about the band. That vague impression proved to be almost entirely incorrect. I am apparently not completely off of my rocker, however, as Sünder ohne Zügel is reportedly quite different than the band's previous material, even if certain core elements remain in place. While previous albums were reported to mix the aura and instrumentation of medieval music with NWOBHM, this album sounds like...er...Rammstein. A more organic Rammstein with bagpipes and harpsichord, but Rammstein nonetheless. The singer, he sounds like Rammstein. The drums and guitars, they sound like Rammstein too. The bagpipes and harpsichord, well, they obviously don't sound like Rammstein, but they do add a rather unique vibe to the album that helps to distinguish In Extremo from other bands while maintaining some threads of continuity with the band's former sound. Admittedly, the juxtaposition between the different instruments and disparate aesthetic impulses does sound a little odd at first; but once you get the hang of what the band is doing, everything starts to make sense and the album proves to be fairly enjoyable. And the band's performance remains based around organic rather than synthetic instruments, meaning that there are no repetitive "looped" sound patterns nor the mechanical rigidity of the drums which so frequently accompany music of this sort (even if the percussion leans towards that militantly regimented sense of control that Rammstein tends to favor). In actuality, while there is considerable affinity on the surface between In Extremo and Rammstein, it is quite clear that the band goes about crafting and performing its music in a much different, more traditional way, and certainly could not be accurately described as industrial by any stretch. Synthesizers, as far as I can tell, are used in moderation, as another instrument, rather than becoming the dominant mode of creation. Which is definitely a good thing. To the extent that the NWOBHM-Medieval hybrid does occur along the expected lines, that would clearly be in the form of "Omnia Sol Temperat," a more upbeat track where the drum patterns and riffing are not militantly regimented in tight configurations, but permitted to flow with a more overtly metallic sense of energy and complexity. Not to imply that the other tracks on this album are simplistic, but they are executed with a straight-forward precision that never really breaks free of its shackles and cuts loose in the same manner as "Omnia Sol Temperat," even if they do deliver the goods in their own way. Credit to the band for a very fine use of bagpipes and harpsichord, which are not deployed in a gimmicky fashion but are clearly well-integrated parts of In Extremo's concept and songwriting, with the bagpipes offering up a good portion of the soloing heard on the album, while the harpsichord is often plucked in a manner that adds urgency and punctuation to the guitar riffs. Definitely not what I expected from In Extremo, but still quite entertaining in its own right.

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