Nachtgeschrei – Ardeo

Releasedate: 26-11-2010; Label: Massacre Records
By: Lara Cappelli

Nachtgeschrei is a German band formed in Frankfurt in 2006. They’re quite a recent addition to the Medieval Metal scene although they have released three full-length so far. “Ardeo” is their latest one.

Unlike many Medieval/Folk Metal bands, Nachgeschrei choose to take inspiration from Heavy Metal beats instead of Death or Power Metal ones, which makes disappear the use of raw vocals that give way to the clearer voice of Holger Franz. The first characteristic that makes “Ardeo” somehow interesting is right Holger’voice that makes it all more particular through his charismatic performance of the songs. Moreover, despite the use of relatively unusual instruments like hurdy-gurdies, flutes and bagpipes, the production points at creating an amalgam that keeps away the aim of making a particular instrument prevail on another one and rather tries to give the same importance to all of the instruments used. As a result, the whole listening gets to pass off without a hitch which might succeed in catching the attention even of those who are not much confidential with the genre. The listeners might easily find themselves beating the rhythm of the songs as they convey such an energy that leads to get plainly involved. “Ardeo” isn’t surely a new dawn for Medieval Metal, but Nachtgeschrei are not to blame for that. Nachtgeschrei are still capable of delivering an album that, even if keeping the typical elements of the genre, manages to bring with it the band’s own personality and interpretation which is not something to give for granted.

Line Up:
Holger “Hotti” Franz – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Sanedin “Sane” Pepeljak – Electric & Acoustic Guitar
Tilman Scholz – Guitar
Oliver Klein – Bass
Stefan Kolb – Drums
Joachim “Joe” Penc – Keyboards, Accordion, Hurdy-Gurdy
Dominik “Nik” Stephan – Bagpipes, Flute

Links:
Nachtgeschrei MySpace
Nachtgeschrei Official