Die Apokalyptischen Reiter (German for "The Apocalyptic Riders") is a German heavy metal band formed in Weimar in 1995.
Contents
Musical style
The band's original style, featured on their releases up to and including Allegro Barbaro and on a few songs on All You Need Is Love, consists of death/thrash metal blended with melodic compositions. In later albums, the death metal influence declined, resulting in less chaotic composition (often centered around a verse and chorus with a bridge and solo), more constant tempo, longer songs and clean vocals (although not exclusively). This resulted in a more polished and accessible sound. The band uses lyrics in both English and German with a shift from mainly English songs to more German ones on recent albums (Licht is entirely in German).
The release of Have a Nice Trip marked somewhat of a turning point for the band; although they retained the essence of heavy metal, they began experimenting with many other styles of music such as ambient and jazz.
Members
Current line-up
Fuchs (Daniel Täumel) – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1995–present)
Volk-Man (Volkmar Weber) – bass, screamed vocals (1995–present)
Titus Maximus – lead guitar (2023–present)
Rohgarr (Euch Rohgarr) – Drums (2023–present)
Former members
Skelleton – drums, screamed vocals (1995–2000)
Pitrone (Peter Pfau) – lead guitar (2002–2008)
Lady Cat-Man (Cathleen Gliemann) – lead guitar (2008–2009)
Dr. Pest (Mark Szakul) – keyboards (1995–2021)
Sir G. (Georg Lenhardt) – drums (2000–2023)
Ady (Adrian Vogel) – lead guitar (2009–2023)
Timeline
Discography
Albums:
1997 – Soft & Stronger
1999 – Allegro Barbaro
2000 – All You Need Is Love
2003 – Have a Nice Trip (#95 in Germany)
2004 – Samurai
2006 – Riders on the Storm (#31 in Germany, #74 in Austria)
2008 – Licht (#29 in Germany, #49 in Austria, #88 in Switzerland)
2011 – Moral & Wahnsinn (#18 in Germany, # 41 in Austria, #61 in Switzerland)
2014 – Tief.Tiefer (#22 in Germany, #72 in Switzerland)
2017 – Der Rote Reiter (#10 in Germany, # 29 in Austria)
2021 – The Divine Horsemen
2022 – Wilde Kinder
2025 – Die Wanderer (Live)
2025 – Freie Republik Reitermania
Demos:
1996 – Firestorm
EPs:
1998 – Dschinghis Khan
2006 – Friede sei mit dir
2008 – Der Weg
2024 – Die Mutter des Teufels
2025 – Rache an Der Wirklichkeit