Volksmetal are a six man group who combine Bavarian folk music with Heavy metal to create one of th emost unique folk metal bands I’ve heard for a long time. After all, how many folk metal bands can you think of that have a tuba player in the band? They’ve played the Summer Breeze festival in 2011 (appearing no less than five times over the course of the festival), and played several times at this years Wacken festival.
The album contains three cover versions and eight original songs. They range from very heavy guitar based folk metal to straight Bavarian folk, with most songs containing a mix of these, so it’s not unusual for some Bavarian folk to be suddenly interrupted by crushingly heavy metal before things go back to the folk. At other times the metal and folk are more integrated so you get a more traditional folk metal style.
What can I say? The pairing of Bavarian folk music (or Oompah bands as we commonly know it), with heavy metal sounds like a crazy idea, and when you listen to it, the music sounds even more insane than expected. Having said that, while it may be totally crazy, somehow it works and it’s strangely addictive. That insanity in the music makes it a lot of fun, and I really would like to see them at a festival as combined with beer it’s the perfect recipe for a party. Certainly the Wacken organisers think so as they had Volksmetal play no less than four times at this years festival on the Beergarden stage. It’s very addictive too – I’ve just listened to the album 4 times back to back, and I’m sure I’ll be listening to this a lot more in the future too.
Crazy, fun, and extremely good – this is a great addition to the diversity of folk metal bands, and definitely an album that folk metal fans should have a listen to.
Volksmetal will be released on 3rd September via Soulfood music.
Volksmetal are:
Marco Gregor – Vocals
Christian Häberlein – Drums
Martin Ibele – Bass
Patrick Bayernhammer – Guitar
Martin Bottlinger – Tuba
Track listing:
1. Da Deifel Is A Oachkatzerl
2. Da Mäddelbänger
3. Fürstenfeld
4. Geh Lass Ma Mei Ruah (feat. Caroline Wetzel)
5. Bayer
6. Brutaler Modelwahn
7. Mausig Schaut Mei Alte Aus
8. Säuferjodler
9. Küss Die Hand Herr Kerkermeister
10. Die Oide Goass
11. O’Zapft Is
12. Volksmetal Thema
Website http://www.volksmetal.de
