Band:	Die Apokalyptischen Reiter
Album:	Samurai
Style:	Heavy metal
Release date:	November 01, 2004
A review by:	Malcolm

Disc I
01. Wahnsinn
02. Eruption [feat. Loulou]
03. Rock 'N' Roll
04. Silence Of Sorrow
05. Der Teufel
06. Reitermaniacs [feat. Tue]
07. Barmherzigkeit
08. Per Aspera Ad Astra
09. Lazy Day [feat. Tue]
10. Die Sonne Scheint
11. Roll My Heart
12. Hey-Ho
13. Northern Lights

Disc II [DVD] [bonus]
+ Metal Will Never Die [Live at With Full Force Summer Open Air 2003]
+ Instinct [Live at Wacken Open Air 2003]
+ We Will Never Die [Live at Summerbreeze Open Air 2003]
+ Gone [Live at Summerbreeze Open Air 2002]

Doku
+ Fuchs
+ Volk - Man
+ Pit
+ Dr. Pest
+ Sir G.

German's Die Apokalyptischen Reiter might be one of a few bands that are somewhere close to original. Their Alternative Melodic Death with punk, reggae and oriental influences is very hard to compare with anything else.
And even if much of this don't interest me, I have to say that this album feels more "real" than their previous one.

"Have a Nice Trip" was a pretty decent album, but I never fell for it, so my expectations were that this album would be pretty much the same.
But when I started listen to it, I heard pretty early that this was different.
The previous album was more "brutal" than this, at least in the beginning, while this album starts with the song "Wansinn", that got almost a folk-sound in the beginning.

But sure, "Samurai" is, in the roots, a Death Metal album, but with all the other influences, the final picture shows so much more. Only by mixing English and German lyrics, the album rise a bit. But it's mainly the influences from other genres that make this so special.

Danish Tue Madsen produced "Samurai" during some strange weeks in Denmark, and you'll hear very early that both the band and Tue had a great time recording this, because their happiness has infected the whole album. So that part is maybe the strongest.

I won't keep on talking for ages about all strange influences, I'll let you judge whatever this album is worth your well saved money. I can just recommend you to at least check them up, you won't get just one kind of genre, you'll get so many. Each song is so different from the other so you'll have all the variation you'll need.

Check Out: "Eruption", "Silence of Sorrow", "Reitermaniacs", "Lazy Day" & "Roll My Heart".