On disc: Rebellion

 
 A Tragedy In Steel / Shakespear's Macbeth
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 


 
 A Tragedy In Steel / Shakespear's Macbeth
 
- Volker Raabe -
 
 


 
 The Clans Are Marching (EP)
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 


 
 The Clans Are Marching (EP)
 
- Philip Thelen -
 
 


 
 Arise - From Ginnungagap To Ragnarök
- The History Of The Vikings Volume 3
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 


 
 The Best Of Viking History
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 


 
 Arminius, Furor Teutonicus
 
- Lars Bjørn -
 
 

Arminius, Furor Teutonicus

(Massacre Records - 2012)



 
 

 

Most people should have heard about the fatal motorcycle accident that injured the lead guitarist Uwe Lulis from Rebellion. That happened in 2008, and it took a long time for the band to figure out what they should do with the career, but after a break of one year, Rebellion regrouped and are now ready to present their new phase in the metal story of the great German metal rockers. Their album is called Arminius, Furor Teutonicus. It's a masterpiece that leaves no doubt that Rebellion is back in a strong position on the way back to the top of German metal music. They are releasing a fantastic album that really is a must for true metal lovers, ready to welcome the new Rebellion. Ala Germanica is as German as you can get it, solid deep heavy metal with fantastic energy. Dusk Awaiting Dawn is more good metal rhythm skilled and hard to push aside when you first heard it. Varus is one of those strange titles that Rebellion use, but nevertheless fantastic good and steel hard German metal. Ghost Of Freedom shows the strong side of Rebellion where especially singer Michael Seifert wins the listeners attention with a voice very much like Chris Boltendahl from Grave Digger. Vae Victis gets you some bad ass hard metal with genius guitars, if you are short of that delivery, they just do it the Rebellion way. And the Rebellion way is great powerful heavy metal at its best. One last remark: get your bad ass to the record dealer as soon as you can.









 
 










Lars Bjørn


  
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The Best Of Viking History

(Massacre Records - 2012)



 
 

 

When Rebellion started they were 'just' a band of former Grave Digger members for many, but soon they showed that they have more to offer. It's 10 years since their debut Shakespeare's Macbeth - A Tragedy In Steel, and they have been through changes. But bassist Tomi Göttlich and singer Michael Seifert are keeping Rebellion alive. Soon their 6th studio album Arminius, Furor Teutonicus shall be in stores, meanwhile a digital-only release is trying to hook up metal fans. The Best Of Viking History is giving heavy metal / true metal / power metal fans a chance to discover the German outfit - even if this best of is just representing the last 3 albums! Up-tempo tunes like Sweden fans of Iced Earth might dig... The compilation isn't made for their die-hard fans, coz they will have all the songs and it's not a collectors thing as it's a digital-only release, this compilation is made for metal fans who only know little of Rebellion and want to check out the band in-depth without buying their whole back catalogue first. It really is a good way to discover the sound spectrum of Rebellion and to get an idea about their lyrical universe. Bassist Tomi Göttlich is spending a lot time to dive into historic events and create lyrics upon them. Their upcoming album will about Arminius, a chieftain of the Germanic Cherusci who defeated a Roman army in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest. Check out The Best Of Viking History!









 
 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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Arise - From Ginnungagap To Ragnarök
- The History Of The Vikings Volume 3

(Massacre Records - 2009)



 
 

 

In 2005 Rebellion release the first part of The History Of The Vikings with Sagas Of Iceland, followed in 2007 by Miklagard. Now they have the final part ready for release and it's called: Arise - From Ginnungagap To Ragnarök - The History Of The Vikings - Volume 3. From now on only referred to as Arise.



With their first album Macbeth - A Tragedy In Steel they chose a topic which was very ambitious. With the Viking history they started another challenging project which took several years to finish. And Arise is the final point. A little appetizer they had for their fans with the EP The Clans Are Marching.



With the fast, guitar-based War they kick off the album and start their journey into the ragnarök, the world of the Viking gods. Michael Seifert is singing deeper and is close to growls - and that gets them closer to many bands who deal with the Vikings... The title track Arise starts slowly with keyboards, but then becomes an up-tempo power metal tune. Fans of Rebellion will already know this one. Heavy riffs dominate Asgard, another fast one. At Odin they have a dash Iced Earth woven into the track, but it's not as catchy as I would expect... And actually that can be said about other songs too. The new songs need several spins to discover the details, but in the past one of the strong points were the catchy melodies. With Runes they have a song which is catchy and Seifert is varying a bit more. One of the highlights of Arise. One of the assets of Bolverk is the guitar play, the lead part. With Thor they have a Manowar-ish track, it begins slowly, then speeds up a bit. Whispered vocals in combination with the deep raspy vocals make it more intense. A cool mid-paced rocker. With Evil they present a thrash metal attack! But towards the end of the song they reduce the speed and return to their power metal roots. Ragnarök and Einherja start both slows, but then the band joins in and they become powerful tracks. The closer Einherja has a catchy refrain and will make you pick up this album again.



Fans of Rebellion will get the last part of the trilogy anyway and every power metal fan who enjoyed the first 2 parts, won't be disappointed. Personally I think that the deep vocals of Michael Seifert are a bit one-dimensional... To me it seems that he limits himself... But the vocals are as always a matter of taste, and I know that others will love just this kind of vocals. To get an idea about Arise listen to: Runes, Odin, War, Einherja and Thor.




 
 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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The Clans Are Marching

(Massacre Records - 2009)



 
 

 

This is a review about Rebellion's new EP The Clans Are Marching. I think everybody knows the song Rebellion, due to the band Grave Digger. Ok, Uwe Lulis and Tomi Göttlich, both composers of this song and founders of the band Rebellion were members of Grave Digger a long time ago. This song is a real metal anthem. So what do you think, if you see this EP out there in any music shop?! Everybody who knows this band - or saw  them live - knows, that this version is really great. In my opinion, this version is much better than the original one by Grave Digger. It is not just the sound of this epic song, but the voice of Michael Seifert which fits really great and makes this one special. This song is only available at this EP! Second song at the EP is Arise, taken from the album Arise – From Ginnungagap To Ragnarök – The History Of Vikings Volume III. The song starts with piano and typical Rebellion riffs which leads straight through the whole song. Ragnarök is also taken from the new album. The music is a bit darker than the Miklagard album, but also melodic. My Blood In The Snow is the EP bonus track and won't be available on the album. It starts ballad-like and turns into a double-bass drenched song with a catchy refrain. A bonus video track is the title track Rebellion – The Clans Are Marching live at Summerbreeze 2005. For all who like the song Rebellion it is a must have. Check it out, you will be happily listening.


 
 










Philip Thelen


  
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The Clans Are Marching

(Massacre Records - 2009)



 
 

 

This EP is a kind of appetizer for the up-coming album of Rebellion. The band of former Grave Digger members Tomi Göttlich and Uwe Lulis was named after the song Rebellion -  The Clans Are Marching and now they recorded an overdone version of this metal hymn. The song is a classic and played live every time Rebellion enter the stage. The song every metal fans knows, so I won't get into detail here, just add that the bag pipe solo is really cool!



The track Arise is giving a first impression of what to expect from their 5th album, an up-tempo rocker with a dark atmosphere and a catchy hook. Another tune from their upcoming album is Ragnarök, also a heavy tune, but this time not just with deep vocal parts, also with some higher notes and shouts. A non-album track is My Blood In The Snow. Slowly they open up this one and especially Michael Seifert's vocals make this one stick out. After a slow opening they speed up and Seifert switches back to his deep vocals. Actually I would have liked to hear more of his less deep voice... Anyway, a catchy song which hopefully will find its way onto their set list.



The EP also offers a video clip of the title track which was recorded at Summer Breeze festival. This EP is cutting short the time til the album Arise: From Ginnungagap To Ragnarök - History of the Vikings, Vol. III will be released.


 
 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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A Tragedy In Steel / Shakespear's Macbeth

(Drakkar - 2002)



 
 

 

You might ask who is Rebellion? Some known musicians came together for this ambitious project. Part of this project are former Grave Digger members Uwe Lulis and Tomi Göttlich as well as Björn Eilen who is known by his work with Warhead. And this is an indication for what this record is about musically. But through the lyrical link to Shakespear's novel MacBeth it's not a typical power metal album. Between the songs there are spoken parts, partly a narrator as well as spoken parts by the different characters. In the booklet there is an abridged version of the story (in German!) and the lyrics as well as the spoken parts. The songs are sung by Michael Seifert (Black Destiny) and partly by Björn Eilen who is also playing guitar. Different speakers for the different characters and so even drummer Randy Black (Annihilator) could be heard as the doctor. A kind of metal opera which is nothing to listen to while doing whatever... This album requests the listeners attention to 100%!



The songs are written by Lulis / Göttlich, expect The Prophecy which is written by Lulis / Eilen. The album was recorded at Black Solaris studio and produced by Lulis / Göttlich which Uwe Lulis see in line with Heart Of Darkness and Tunes Of War from Grave Digger even if it's more traditional heavy metal than true metal. Beside that this story claims atmospheric music partly. Very interesting album, give it a try!

 
 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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A Tragedy In Steel / Shakespear's Macbeth

(Drakkar - 2002)



 
 

 

The new band of former Grave Digger guitarist Uwe Lulis is called Rebellion and like Jag Panzer did they try to put Shakespeare's classic Macbeth into a metal outfit. The US boys did very well and so do Rebellion. Isn't it a high task to do a conceptual album like these as a debut? Well, it is, but beside Uwe Lulis former Grave Digger bassist Tomi Göttlich is part of the band. Göttlich was responsible for the lyrical background of Grave Digger's Tunes Of War. So, why shouldn't it work out? Fact is that the band smartly connected the songs with narrated parts and which are personified by several persons.



The chorus' are arranged for several voices and are very well done as well as the choirs and the structure of the songs. Highlights are the anthem-like Evil Speaks and emotional Demon's Rising. The song Husbandry In Heaven is starting with a female voice and it seems that Rebellion have re-arranged Anne Clarke's Our Darkness, but then a heavy thunderstorm of guitar riffing breaks loose.



I don't want to go in detail about the single songs, but everybody who thought that Jag Panzer's  Thane To The Throne was a brilliant piece of music - and that should be quite a number - will say the same about Rebellion's Tragedy In Steel. Master of the riffs Uwe Lulis and his mates have an excellent album which they can present live these days and if they do a good job, then Running Wild will have a tough time on stage! Let's go and get your copy!

 
 










Volker Raabe
(translation: Claudia Ehrhardt)


  
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