In Extremo (D)

(en.wikipedia.org)

In Extremo (Latin: At the Edge) is a German medieval metal band originating from Berlin. The band's musical style combines metal with medieval traditional songs, blending the sound of the standard rock/metal instruments with historical instruments (such as bagpipes, harp, hurdy-gurdy and shawm). Versions of well-known traditional/medieval ballads make up the main part of their repertoire, but the band has written an increasing share of original material in recent years. Their own material is written in German, whilst the traditional songs are in a variety of languages, including Gaelic, Spanish, English, Norwegian, Swedish, Icelandic, French, Estonian, Galician, Hebrew, Latin, Ladino, Occitan, Old High German and Middle High German.

Instruments

Besides the electric guitar, bass, and drum set, In Extremo defines itself by unconventional (for a rock band) instruments mainly of medieval origin. They include hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, Uilleann Pipes, shawm, nyckelharpa, harp, cittern, tromba marina, hammered dulcimer, Klangbaum, and various types of drums and percussion. Bagpipes are the most conspicuous of these instruments, as Dr. Pymonte, Yellow Pfeiffer, and Flex der Biegsame all play bagpipes, sometimes all three at once. All of the band members play multiple instruments, and frequently rotate instruments between songs; Das letzte Einhorn frequently plays a cittern during certain songs, such as Ai Vis A Lo Lop.

Their bagpipes were partially made by Dr. Pymonte, but are also partially built by a well-known pipe builder. The band also uses a custom-built frame drum covered in zebra skin, called Das Pferd (engl. "The Horse"). Most of the other acoustic instruments, such as their shawms, are only made by a few other instrument builders.

Style and lyrics

Some lyrics are not written by the band, but come – like the instruments – from traditional songs written during the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Many of the lyrics to the band's repertoire of medieval songs come from church writings (e.g. Wessebronner Gebet), Benedictine writings (e.g. Raue See), or are "trad. arr.", meaning traditional songs with unknown authors, rearranged by the band (e.g. Merseburger Zaubersprüche, Tannhuser, Poc Vecem). The band also frequently uses songs from the Carmina Burana, a medieval collection of songs, as well as lyrics written as poetry by the 15th-century French poet François Villon (Rotes Haar, engl. "Red Hair," and Erdbeermund, engl. "Strawberry Mouth," translated into German by Paul Zech).

The band also uses poems from later writers such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Der Rattenfänger, engl. "The Ratcatcher") and Ludwig Uhland, who wrote Des Sängers Fluch (engl. "The Singer's Curse") – which In Extremo changed to be called Spielmannsfluch (engl. "The Minstrel's Curse"). For the album Mein Rasend Herz, In Extremo originally wrote the lyrics to the song "Liam" in German, after which it was translated into Irish by Rea Garvey, who was also a guest singer on the song.