Die apokalyptischen Reiter - Adrenalin (2009) - About adrenaline and energy - 86% (11/05/11)

"Adrenalin" is a quite rare to find live album of "Die apokalyptischen Reiter" that play an intriguing mixture of Stockholm melodic death metal and folk rock or medieval metal. This works really well during their concerts as this disc proves. The interaction between the band and the crowd is amazing and filled with encouragements, little jokes and funny anecdotes. The sound is straight and simply perfect, a thing that is not always the case for an album that is given away at such a low price with a magazine. But the guys in the band describe in the well done booklet that this record can be seen as a gift to their fans and that they wanted to share their beautiful memories of the last concerts with them. You can hear that those quotations are honest and that the band put a lot of passion into the production and release of this high quality record. The funny thing is that this record is even longer than their last studio records and really offers a lot.

While most of the chosen songs are live versions from the enjoyable studio album "Licht", a couple of tracks also come from the older albums and offer a good overview of the band's career. From "thrashier" and harder tracks like the well chosen opener "Wir sind das Licht", dark groove monsters like the title track "Adrenalin", soft gothic ballads like "Nach der Ebbe" and more traditional folk songs like the pirate hymn "Seemann", the albums offers something for almost every taste and presents the stunning diversity of the band. Every song works very well live and even the new instrumental introduction is interesting and well done. The whole thing is kept together by the charismatic and rough vocals, the interactions between fans and musicians and the high amount of energy. The title "Adrenalin" is very well chosen for this kind of gem. It's the first live disc from the band and it was my introduction to this band that leaves me wanting more. I hope to see them live to be part of the crowd one day.

If you happen to like this band or if you are simply interested in folk and death metal with a unique touch of German culture, I would suggest you to search for this diversified and energizing album. I even think that this kind of live record is better than any studio record of the band as those guys are born to rock the masses.