Falkenbach (band)

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Falkenbach
General information
Genre (s) Pagan Metal , Viking Metal
founding 1989
Website http://semivivus.proboards.com
Current occupation
Singing , music, instruments
 Markus "Vratyas Vakyas" Tümmers
Studio musician
Vocals, guitar
bully
guitar
 Hagalaz
Michel "Boltthorn" Spithoven

Falkenbach is a Viking / Pagan Metal project by Markus “Vratyas Vakyas” Tümmers (German: 'The searching wanderer'), who grew up in Iceland and now lives in Germany ( Düsseldorf ) again .

Band history

Falkenbach came into being in 1989 with the release of the first demo tape Havamal , of which only nine copies were produced, but the band name did not appear on this demo yet. At the beginning it was very folk music with acoustic guitar , percussion and clear vocals , later the music moved more and more towards metal .

In 1995 Vratyas Vakyas recorded what he said was the first official cassette Laeknishendr ( Old Icelandic : 'Healing Hands') in the Icelandic national park Þingvellir and published it in an edition of 33 copies; the previous recordings were not intended to be passed on to persons unknown to him. According to him, sending the cassette to record companies was not primarily about a record deal, but about feedback on music and lyrics. Many of the record companies would have copied or even sold the tapes and cheated on him despite the enclosed return postage. Therefore, he saw an edition of 33 as too high and released the next cassette, Skinn af sverði söl valtiva ('The sun shines on the swords of gods'), in an edition of 9 and only passed it on to supporters and friends whom he trusted they wouldn't trade. According to his own information, he received feedback from Solistitium Records, No Colors Records , Merciless Records , Massacre Records , Adipocere Records, Morbid Records and Osmose Productions , three of these record companies are said to have been interested in a contract with Falkenbach. He chose No Colors Records because the record company showed real interest in the Falkenbach concept. After signing the contract, Steffen and Kay from No Colors wanted a promo cassette with two or three songs, for which Vratyas Vakyas chose a song by Laeknishendr and the title Galdralag . He declined payment for the cassette; he viewed it as a gift to friends. According to Tümmers' own statements, he has given nine demo tapes in small editions over the years.

In 1995 work began on the debut album Fireblade , but these were canceled due to problems with the equipment. Assumptions that these were released by No Colors Records in 1997 under the band name Vargas , this denied, although the songs of Vargas consisted largely of Falkenbach material. However , he stated in 1998 in the Chronicles of Chaos that Vargas was the only band that played music similar to Falkenbach.

Instead of Fireblade , Vakyas now worked on ... En their medh riki fara ... ('... And they will happen gloriously ...'), leaving the choice of studio, the duration of the recordings and all other freedoms to him. Vratyas Vakyas announced that this will probably remain the band's only album. Due to the poor cover quality, a different booklet was used for the second version. The first version is limited to approx. 1500 publications and contains the only available photo of Vratyas Vakyas in the booklet; in his opinion music, texts and content should be in the foreground, he rejects personality cult; In addition, his private life is not something to which he has a personal relationship. … En their medh riki fara… remained the only release on No Colors Records whose release by right-wing extremist bands like Graveland and Nokturnal Mortum for Vratyas Vakyas "was neither the reason to sign there nor the reason to change"; It doesn't matter to him which bands are on the same label as Falkenbach or appear in the same magazine.

In 1998 the follow-up album … Magni blandinn ok megintiri… ('… mixed with strength and proud splendor…') was released by Napalm Records ; the album was more melodic than its predecessor and was highly praised by specialist magazines. It is the last album that Vratyas was involved in alone. After that, the project went quiet; In an interview, Tümmers said he “thinks it's important to have the right time for an album without paying attention to commercial aspects.” In 2003 he released the follow-up album Ok nefna tysvar ty ('And call Tyr twice…'). For the first time, three musicians from the Luxembourg symphonic metal band Vindsval were involved in Falkenbach. The seven songs hardly contained any influences from Black Metal , Tümmers only used screaming in one song (Vanadis) . On November 25, 2005, the fourth album, Heralding the Fireblade, was released . It contains pieces that were to be released on the originally planned debut album Fireblade , and other new recordings of old demos; accordingly “the powerful spirit of the debut '… en their medh riki fara' is clearly attached to them.” The album contains more songs than the original album ( Fireblade ). With this album, too, Tümmers was supported by the three Vindsval musicians. In 2006 the two Falkenbach tribute albums ... an Homage to Falkenbach Part I and Part II with songs by Eluveitie , Bewitched , Racheengel and other bands were released in an edition of 500 copies.

The fifth album Tiurida was released on January 28, 2011 , and it was announced on August 1, 2011 that Vratyas Vakyas signed with Prophecy Productions .

On April 26, 2013, the song Eweroun was released on a vinyl single, which is limited to 500 copies. On November 1st, the accompanying album Asa was released on CD and record.

Label

Markus Tümmers takes a very critical stance towards "big" record companies and magazines in the metal sector and accuses them of determining the success and failure of a band by preferring financial interests and marketability of a band to artistic potential. For this reason, Tümmers founded his own label Skaldic Art, through which albums by Rivendell, Menhir and Vindsval , among others , were released, and in which the bands were guaranteed all artistic freedom. Due to a lack of time, Tümmers stopped the label's activities in 2006.

Texts and ideology

Vratyas Vakyas is mainly interested in two theories: Ásatrú and Vatan. Falkenbach often deals with Edda topics which , like this one, are presented in the old Icelandic language. Vratyas Vakyas insists, however, that their subject matter is "only a part of many in Falkenbach's texts"; the Edda shows how Ásatrú received knowledge, which however had to be deciphered and cleared of Christian additions. In addition to the Edda and his own texts, he also refers to Tacitus , among other things . Vratyas Vakyas told Voices from the Darkside that Falkenbach was trying to reach people who were 100% pagan at heart, and possibly to give some people new impulses. For him, it is not about selling his music, but about the union of those who are of the same spirit and blood; Falkenbach is not a "leader", but can rather be compared to the Gjallarhorn , which will unite all pagans. 99% of the listeners would misunderstand the message, but the rest would be worth dying for; However, should this one percent not exist, there would be no reason to continue Falkenbach. In addition to the old Icelandic verses from the Edda, Vakyas mainly uses English-language texts; on Asa the texts are written in old Limburgish .

Vratyas Vakyas represented ethnopluralist positions to the Polish magazine Erupted Evil in the mid-1990s and stated that he “could not understand how anyone can be proud of a nation” because there are no more countries “worth it” due to multiculturalism To be called 'nation'. There are no more borders and no real identity ”. He was of the opinion that “every race and every culture” is worth preserving, which is impossible if you mix them up, and asked: “How can I be proud of Germany when hardly anyone remembers their own geniuses and Germany no longer Germania is? ”However, they expressly distance themselves from the NSBM and Vakyas emphasizes that his music is generally free of any political worldview.

Discography

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Albums
Tiurida
  DE 92 02/11/2011 (1 week)
Asa
  DE 48 11/15/2013 (1 week)

Albums

Demos and singles

  • 1989: Havamal (MC; self-distribution)
  • 1990: Tanfana (MC; self-distribution)
  • 1991: Towards Solens Golden Light (MC; self-distribution)
  • 1995: Læknishendr (MC; self-distribution)
  • 1995: Skinn av sverdhi sol valtiva (MC; self-distribution)
  • 1995: Promo Tape '95 (MC; No Colors)
  • 2013: Eweroun (7 "; Prophecy Productions )

swell

  1. ↑ Skogen # 3, 1996, interview with Aðalbjörn Tryggvason
  2. ↑ a b c d e Frank Stöver: FALKENBACH . In: Voices from the Darkside , No. 10, 1997, pp. 48f.
  3. ↑ Falkenbach Forum - Unreleased and demo material .
  4. ↑ Falkenbach Forum - Vargas = Falkenbach Sideproject
  5. ↑ a b Asmondeus: Falkenbach - Magni blandinn Ok Megintiri - Review .
  6. ↑ a b c d e Arlette Huguenin: FALKENBACH: Inspiration doesn't need a certain mood .
  7. ^ Arlette Huguenin: Falkenbach: Heralding the Fireblade .
  8. ↑ Chad Bowar: Falkenbach Interview .
  9. ↑ Latest News ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.prophecy.de
  10. ↑ Eweroun ( Memento of the original from May 6, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / de.prophecy.de
  11. ↑ rs: Falkenbach - The Seeker and the Sword , bloodchamber.de, accessed on January 25, 2011.
  12. ↑ Erupted Evil , No. 2, p. 4. Quoted from: Christian Dornbusch , Hans-Peter Killguss: Unheilige Allianzen. Black Metal between Satanism, Paganism and Neo-Nazism . Münster, Unrast Verlag, 2005, p. 117.
  13. ↑ Falkenbach Forum - Forum Interview II .
  14. ↑ Chart discography Germany