The Apocalyptic Riders established themselves with albums like All You Need Is Love and especially their Nuclear Blast debut Have A Nice Trip which brough them worldwide recognition and enabled them to tour with metal gods such as Testament and Death as well as Marduk, thus making a name for themselves among metal circles.
Now with a new line-up, the band has released Samurai, retaining their classic sound and style, with energetic poppy punk meets modern rock. The polished "Silence of Sorrow" erupts with slick guitars, screamed hardcore vocals before closing with a nice piano coda where Fuchs' heavily German-accented vocals take the lead. As with previous albums, the songs on Samurai are varied, borrowing elements from both Middle Eastern percussion and church organ on "Hey-Ho" and German folk on "Wahnsinn" (Madness) as well as the punk-styled "Eruption". Raging black shrieks and deep deep death growls unite on "Der Teufel" (The Devil) as if the band makes fun of the serious black metal movement proving they are capable of making the same "noise", only to return to their 18th century pronounced German lyrics with Rammstein keyboards and highly melodic guitars. While this may appeal to a select audience, I personally find The Apocalyptic Riders is a band with no artistic motive. All they seem to be interested in is touch every genre imaginable without capturing its essence, utilising a big, shiny mix and neat, easy-to-swallow soundscapes. And as a result, their songs sound neither heavy or dark, nor melodic or fun. That said, there's a vast amount of instrumentation applied here, from captivating pianos to epic riffs to abrasive vocals, but rather than diversifying their songs and rendering themselves versatile, listening to Samurai makes me think they put all of this together because they could, in hopes of being more accessible. Whether they'll succeed though is highly questionable.
By the way, though it's beside the point, the band pictures in the booklet are laughable.
Track Listing
- Silence of Sorrow
- Rock N Roll
- Hey-Ho
- Wahnsinn
- Eruption
- Der Teufel
- Reitermaniacs
- Barmherzigkeit
- Per Aspera Ad Astra
- Lazy Day
- Die Sonne Scheint
- Roll My Heart
- Northern Lights
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