Menhir (band)
| Menhir | |
|---|---|
 Menhir at the Hörnerfest Open Air 2009 in Brande-Hörnerkirchen (Schleswig-Holstein) |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Schmalkalden , Germany |
| Genre (s) | Pagan metal |
| founding | 1995 |
| Website | www.ziuwari.de |
| Founding members | |
| Heiko Gerull | |
| Manuela Ebert (until 2002) | |
| fix | |
| Current occupation | |
Vocals, electric guitar |
Heiko Gerull |
Electric guitar, acoustic guitar |
Fix (until 1999 and since 2000) |
| Friedrich "Fritze" Hofmann (since 2002) | |
Keyboard |
Christian (since 2002) |
Drums |
Erwin (since 2008) |
| former members | |
Electric guitar |
Roman (1997-1999) |
Electric bass |
Heinz (1996–1997) |
Electric bass |
Karsten (1999-2002) |
Drums |
Sebastian (2000-2006) |
Drums |
Daniel (2006-2008) |
Menhir is a pagan metal band founded in Schmalkalden , Thuringia . Part of the band is active in the reenactment group Ulfhednar .
history
The band was founded in 1995 by the singer and guitarist Heiko Gerull, the drummer Fix and the keyboard player Manuela Ebert. The following year, a four- piece demo was released with Barditus . Together with the bassist Heinz, the debut album Die Ewigen Steine was recorded a year later and was published by Ars Metalli. In 1998 the mini CD Buchonia was released ; Guest musicians such as the singer Nadja Rinko, the violist and violinist Olaf Wald, the singer Alfred Gerull and the harpist Florian Schiller contributed to the four pieces.
During the recording of the second album Thuringia , Fix and Heinz left the band, Karsten came as bassist, and Roman was represented as the second guitarist. Tormentor from the band Desaster was a guest musician on drums. After the recordings, Roman left the band, Sebastian joined the band as a permanent drummer and Fix returned, this time on guitar. Before recording Ziuwari in 2002, Karsten left the band and Odroerir's bass player at the time helped out. The album was released by Skaldic Art as Ars Metalli was about to break up. The last four publications then appeared in a new edition on Perverted Taste . In 2004, the recordings for the next album began, and Hildebrandslied finally appeared in 2007.
style
On Die Ewigen Steine the band combines keyboards, harmonic guitar riffs and partly clear vocals in the style of In the Woods… , screams like in Nordic Black Metal and rhythms in mostly medium tempo. The “catchy, hymn-like melodies” were described as (probably unintentionally) “happy and poppy ” and the keyboard as too synthetic, penetrating and “constantly too much in the foreground”, which was especially embarrassing when it "can be heard alone and its fair-band character is noticeable". While the Tales of the Macabre Menhir was not suitable for headbanging , but rather “the stuff I would call intellectual, metallized (but not metal ) music”, Kai Wendel wrote in Rock Hard : “The pathetic and real All the horn helmet clichés about Aryan heroes, gods and battles are at least as stupid as Manowar's about true metal and it is easy to spot. ” His colleague Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann described the album as mixed, but wrote in his Criticism of EP Buchonia : “I would never have thought of two things in view of this release. First, that one can pay homage to one's German homeland - in this case Thuringia - without drifting into embarrassment. And secondly, that MENHIR come up with such a strong pagan / folk metal release after their rather mixed 'Die Ewigen Steine' album . Whereby one should use the term 'Metal' rather cautiously, because the first two pieces - 'Sonnenwende' and 'Germanenkunst' (no, no dull national drama) - are pure folkloristic, solemn, highly melodic pieces with clear chants. " According to him, singer Heiko Gerull and singer Nadja complement each other perfectly and create an almost happy atmosphere". String instruments are used in the third and fourth tracks of the EP, with the latter “being able to speak of metal for the first time, because here guitars and heavy drums appear”. The EP goes through "as a piece of music with no drawers that should appeal to folk fans, metallers, and gloomy people alike." According to Mühlmann, it is considered "a kind of German answer to Storm , Wongraven and Isengard ".
Thuringia was described in the Tales of the Macabre as "melodic, Nordic-influenced keyboard (so-called 'black') metal with some (but very few) heavy metal riffs à la Running Wild "; the singing alternates between screaming and clear, hymn-like singing, the keyboard is used almost permanently; as a result, the music sounds “even softer than it is anyway”, Menhir is “just one of many [...] powerless standard bands”. Mühlmann, on the other hand, convinced the album as "the quintessence of the metallic debut 'Die Ewigen Steine' and the folkloric 'Buchonia'". The band has refined its symbiosis of black metal influences, anthemic metal and folklore and comes up with “great, pathetic melodies that sound so convincing, especially because of the significantly improved guitar work”.
Ziuwari's sound is based heavily on Nordic Black Metal.
On the album Hildebrandslied , according to Julian Rohrer of Powermetal.de , the band “did not deviate from their successful style”, but according to his colleague Sebastian Schneider it “comes across as much more heroic”. The first song, Das alten Lied des Winde , combines “[t] spatial solos”, influences from melodic black metal and “atmospheric melodies” and “is interspersed with fiddly guitar craftsmanship”. The next song, The Warrior's Face - Ulfhednar , is a “hymn of praise to the warrior carried by male choirs”, which, according to Schneider, is similar to the previous piece except for “a nastier growling and barking”. The album also contains a setting of the Hildebrandslied , which extends over two pieces and is held at a slow to medium tempo; the first part is supported by a violin, the second “is non-electronic and is more reminiscent of medieval sounds including timpani, violin and acoustic guitar” and approaches the style of their EP Buchonia . The following piece, Dein Ahn, in turn “reminds […] strongly of a modern and mature version of a song that would definitely have found a place on one of the older releases such as 'Ewige Steine'”; Heiko Gerull “alternates between nastier nagging and gloomy chants”, and the band falls back on blastbeats , which is the only thing that still has noteworthy Black Metal influences. The last piece, Weit in der Ferne , “is hymnically again as usual” and uses keyboards and “fiddling [de]” guitars; the clear vocals "are rounded off more often than in other songs by keifattacks, which are underlined by short blastbeats [...]. In itself, the piece is a somewhat abrupt end to 'Hildebrandslied' [...]. ”According to the booklet, the symbols and lyrics are“ in a historical and archaeological context ”. The album received positive reviews on Powermetal.de and Metal1.info as well as in Rock Hard , but according to Brother Cle of the latter magazine, “[d] em one or the other [...] might come across as too pathetic and not too heavy. In line with the tragic content of the concept, however, 'Hildebrandslied' sounds very coherent. "
Political classification
Menhir was considered "apolitical" by the Thuringian Ministry of the Interior in 1999. In the summer of 2008, the inflationary use of the swastika was pointed out both by Menhir himself and by the reenactment group Ulfhednar . The group was also accused of wearing a T-shirt of the right-wing extremist Slavic League at a concert in Moscow.
On the 2007 publication Hildebrandslied , they also greet the NSBM band Graveland , whose only member since 1999, Rob Darken, is also a member of a reenactment group. Upon request, it was stated that if the album were reissued, the acknowledgment would be deleted. Arian Zillox, founding member and chairman of the Ulfhednar group, responded to the allegations with an open letter to the editors of the ZDF culture magazine aspekte , which featured a report on Ulfhednar on January 21 and also mentioned menhir:
“ Our image and copy rights were constantly disregarded, targeted lies spread, generalized and discriminated against: Alleged threats with dogs, menhir = NS Black Metal, politically questionable, etc. That this band, in spite of an unchecked greeting “Graveland” has no further relationships with them and certainly does not share their cryptic worldview, as the “right rock experts” Raabe and Dornbusch themselves know best. "
Discography
Albums
- 1997: The eternal stones
- 1999: Thuringia
- 2001: Ziuwari
- 2007: Hildebrandslied
Others
- 1996: Barditus ( demo )
- 1998: Buchonia (Mini-CD)
Web links
- Official website
- Menhir at Discogs (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c MENHIR "The Eternal Stones" . In: Tales of the Macabre , No. 5.
- ↑ a b c Kai Wendel: MENHIR . The eternal stones . In: Rock Hard , No. 122.
- ↑ a b Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann: MENHIR . Buchonia . In: Rock Hard , No. 138, accessed September 13, 2013.
- ↑ a b Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann: MENHIR . Thuringia . In: Rock Hard , No. 148, accessed September 13, 2013.
- ↑ a b Costa: MENHIR "Thuringia" . In: Tales of the Macabre , No. 6, p. 36.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Sebastian Schneider: Menhir - Hildebrandslied , September 18, 2007, accessed on September 13, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Julian Rohrer: Menhir - Hildebrandslied , .26. October 2007, accessed September 13, 2013.
- ^ Danny Hoff: Menhir: Hildebrandslied , June 22, 2007, accessed on September 13, 2013.
- ↑ a b Stefan Popp: Menhir - Hildebrandslied , April 6, 2013, accessed on September 13, 2013.
- ↑ a b Brother Cle: MENHIR . Hildebrand's song . In: Rock Hard , No. 244, accessed September 13, 2013.
- ↑ Thuringian State Parliament - 3rd electoral period: right-wing extremists convicted of Nazi propaganda in Eisenach (II) (Minor question from MP Dittes (PDS) and answer from Thuringian Ministry of the Interior), November 30, 1999 (German, accessed March 25, 2008)
- ↑ Christian Dornbusch : “Völkisch or not?”. Published in Right Edge No. 113 (July / August 2008)
- ↑ Karl Banghard: Under the crochet cross. Germanic Living History and Right Affects: A Historical Overview in Three Highlights . In: Hans-Peter Killguss (ed.): The invention of the Germans. Reception of the Varus Battle and the mystification of the Teutons. Documentation for the conference on July 3, 2009 . NS Documentation Center of the City of Cologne, Cologne, ISBN 978-3-938636-12-1 , p. 34 .
- ↑ About runes and swastikas. Nazi symbols in the living history group "Ulfhednar" ( memento of the original from April 25, 2009 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. . 3sat-Kulturzeit, January 21, 2008
- ↑ Arian Zillox: Open Letter ( Memento of the original from February 27, 2009 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. , addressed to the editorial staff of the ZDF culture magazine Aspects on January 16, 2009.
