The 10 Best German Heavy Bands, According to Native Black-Metal Sons Der Weg einer Freiheit (Exclusive)
As musically gifted as they are hyper-intelligent, as hyper-intelligent as they are kind, and as kind as they are wise, there was no better band to approach than atmospheric black-metal masters Der Weg einer Freiheit for The Bad Penny Passport‘s stop in Germany. That’s the name we’re calling our latest series, in which we check in with musicians in countries across the globe to get the real deal on the best bands their homelands have to offers. We’re blown away by your positive reception of the series, dear readers; we surmise it’s because you’re refreshed to be getting listening recommendations from musicians instead of Spotify, the algorithm or AI.
On Friday, Der Weg einer Freiheit released an instrumental version of Innern, the studio album they released last year, and we’ll bring you an interview with vocalist/guitarist Nikita Kamprad and bassist Alan Noruspur post-haste. But before we do, we’re gifting to you a list of Germany’s top 10 metal bands that Kamprad – one of our best comrades, and who we’ve interviewed before – in turn gifted to us. (Der Weg deserve a lofty place on the list, but Kamprad is too humble to have put his own band on it.)
Without further ado, here’s his list, with generously ample descriptions of the featured bands and explanations as to why they deserve to be on it.
Nocte Obducta was the first German black-metal band — and also one of the first black-metal bands in general — that got me into the genre. They started in the early ‘90s and might not be very well-known in general, but they have a huge legacy and a big impact on Germany’s (black) metal scene. I discovered them in the early 2000s, when the internet wasn’t really a place to discover new music yet. You went to concerts and festivals, talked to friends and exchanged music. There was a strong local metal scene in Würzburg, where I grew up and still live, with bands like Sumfbold, Apokrypha and Final Breath.
At one local festival, someone handed me a promotional copy of Nektar 1 by Nocte Obducta. I immediately fell in love with it and listened to that CD almost every day. It had a huge impact on me as a songwriter and was one of the main influences on the early Der Weg einer Freiheit material. Nocte Obducta had this combination of melodic riffing and blast beats that really attracted me, alongside gloomy, synth-heavy and sometimes almost gothic passages with spoken vocals. Those melodic riffs and blast beats are obviously also a very important part of what became Der Weg einer Freiheit, so Nocte Obducta remains a very important band to me.
2. Nagelfar
Another very important German black metal band is Nagelfar. I think they even came back together and played a few shows last year, but other than that, they’re not really active anymore. However, back in the day their albums had a huge impact on me. They have three main albums – Hünengrab im Herbst, Srontgorrth and Virus West – along with a couple of demos, splits and EPs. I think Virus West was actually the first one I discovered, but Hünengrab im Herbst, from 1997, had a particularly massive influence on me.
Even today, I consider Hünengrab im Herbst one of the benchmark German black-metal albums. There’s something very raw and atmospheric about their songwriting, but at the same time the riffs are incredibly memorable and powerful. Nagelfar definitely had a huge impact on the way I approached songwriting, especially in the early days of Der Weg einer Freiheit.
3. Heisskalt
The next band is Heisskalt, which is definitely not black metal. I honestly don’t even know how to categorize them, especially when it comes to the album that made the biggest impression on me: Idylle. I actually didn’t connect with their earlier material as much, but Idylle completely got me. It has this incredibly raw form of melancholy and feels like a band deliberately doing exactly what they wanted to do, regardless of what their fans or the music industry might have expected from them at that point (being a quite popular and commercially successful pop/rock act, at least this was my impression of the band).
It was probably also the reason this album wasn’t commercially successful, because they took such a drastic turn. But for me, that’s exactly what made it so refreshing. They took a huge risk and completely changed what I thought the band would be. Some people might see Heisskalt as a big festival pop-rock act playing all the major German rock festivals, but Idylle showed me a very different side of them, and for me it worked perfectly.
With A Secret Revealed, I’m going back to my hometown, Würzburg. The band consists of some of my best friends, and I’m particularly close with their guitarist Lukas. We went to school together from fifth grade all the way through our Abitur, and we basically started playing guitar and being in bands at the same time. I still remember sitting on his balcony with both our guitars and amps fully cranked, playing along to Slayer songs like “Raining Blood” and “South of Heaven.” Those are memories I’ll always associate with our friendship and with discovering (heavy) music together.
A Secret Revealed have been consistently putting out albums over the years, and they’re about to release what I think is their best album so far [The Ruin I Summoned Forth, due October 16]. I even did guest vocals on one of the new songs that came out just recently (lead track “Disheartened”). Musically, they’re much more modern, with a strong riff-based metalcore influence, but they also incorporate a lot of atmosphere, blast beats and black-metal elements. So this is a very personal choice for me. They’re not only a band whose music I really enjoy, but also people I’ve shared a huge part of my life with. I love these guys and I’m happy to support everything they do.
5. Zerre
The next band is another one from my hometown of Würzburg: Zerre. Their singer is actually our former bassist Nicolas [Ziska], so this is another very personal choice for me. Musically, they’re doing this ‘80s and ‘90s thrash- and speed-metal thing, in the vein of old Metallica,
Testament and Slayer, but also more recent bands like Power Trip. And they just nail it. They’re incredibly tight, and I think that’s a big reason why they’ve become so popular in Germany recently.
It’s honestly not really my cup of tea musically, but I can absolutely appreciate how well they’re doing it. They’re also really lovely people with their hearts in the right place when it comes to political and social issues. So they’re definitely a band I’d recommend supporting — both as people and if you’re into that classic thrash-metal sound.
6. Lantlôs
Lantlôs are a band that started out in the depressive black-metal scene, but nowadays it’s almost impossible to put them in any particular genre. They even describe themselves as something like “teletubbie bubblegum nü-metal” with their newest album, Daisies. What I really admire is that they never allow themselves to be defined by a genre and completely reinvent themselves with every album. You may like it or not (and to be honest, I couldn’t get into their latest album), but I fully respect the artistic approach behind it.
The album that really got me into the band was .neon, released in 2010, just one year after the first Der Weg einer Freiheit album [which was self-titlted]. It completely opened my eyes to what atmospheric post-black metal could be. The song “Pulse/Surreal” felt especially groundbreaking to me, and I think Lantlôs paved the way for so many bands that came afterward.
They’ve made some incredible albums since then, like Melting Sun and their latest one. What makes them interesting is that they’re always taking risks and doing whatever they want. Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn’t, but I really respect that approach.
7. Heretoir
Another band in a similar vein to Lantlôs is Heretoir. I first got in touch with David [Conrad], the singer and founder of the band, back in the early 2010s, and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. I’m also very close with their drummer Nils [Groth] nowadays. We actually toured together last year for our Innern release trek, and it was probably the best tour we’ve ever done — not just because of the great shows and venues, but because of the people in the band and the friendships we have.
Their music is great as well. I think Heretoir were one of the earlier bands to help shape this modern atmospheric post-black metal style. The Circle in particular was on heavy rotation for me back in the day. Their newer material has a more modern, massive metal sound, sometimes even moving towards something huge like Architects, but I enjoy both sides of the band. They’re great musicians, great people and definitely a band I would recommend checking out.
8. Lunar Aurora
Another more ancient German black-metal band and one that has always been very genre-defying is Lunar Aurora. I discovered them a little later than bands like Nocte Obducta and Nagelfar, which might also be why I didn’t connect with them immediately. But their album Andacht really convinced me, especially the opening song “Glück.” I immediately loved the melancholy in their music and the way they incorporated synthesizers into the sound without taking away from the black metal foundation.
For me, Lunar Aurora are one of those German black-metal bands with a huge legacy. They had a real impact on the scene, and I think their music still deserves to be discovered today.
Another German black-metal band founded in the early 2000s is Imperium Dekadenz. I discovered them during my community service, when I got up around 4 a.m. daily to drive out into the countryside and pick up disabled people to bring them to work in Würzburg. I remember one winter morning around 2008, before picking up the first person, when I was alone in the van, driving through empty country roads and forests covered in mist while the sun was coming up. I was listening to Dämmerung der Szenarien by Imperium Dekadenz through the van’s shitty stereo, and that music and sound perfectly matched the atmosphere of that moment. Whenever I listen to them today, that image immediately comes back to me.
I still consider Dämmerung der Szenarien their best album, but obviously that’s a personal opinion. It’s not particularly fast or technical, but it creates this incredible atmosphere, with few synthesizers woven into the sound in a very subtle way. And that’s what I admire most about Imperium Dekadenz: their ability to create such a strong and immersive atmosphere.
10. Orlog
I’m finishing my list with a band that is probably one of the most obscure recommendations here: Orlog and their album Elysion, released in 2008. As far as I know, they basically disappeared after that album, and I’ve never really heard anything from them since.
What I love about Elysion is the combination of very fast, raw black-metal riffing and drumming with incredibly well-written songs. The whole album just works incredibly well from beginning to end.
I’m not too familiar with their earlier works before that album, which I think was leaning more towards pagan black metal. That last album is one of those records that almost nobody seems to know, which makes it even more special to me. Elysion is definitely an album I would recommend digging up if you’re into raw but melodic black metal without any unnecessary embellishments. My recommendation is the closing song that shares the same title as the album.
Pick up a copy of the instrumental version of Innern – and the original album too, if you don’t have it already – on Der Weg’s Bandcamp page.
For more authoritative lists of the best bands from non-U.S. countries, as picked by bands that hail from those places, check out:
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• The 10 Best Swiss Bands, According to Native Dark-Jazz-Grind-Doom Experimentalists Convulsif (Exclusive)
• The 10 Best Irish Bands, According to Alt-Pop-Addicted Electronic Producer Phenom Vaticanjail (Exclusive)
• The 10 Best Chilean Bands, According to Guitarist for Santiago-Based Noisy Punk-Rock Squad Niño Nuclear (Exclusive)
• The 10 Best Venezuelan Heavy Bands, According to the Country’s Most Badass Garage-Rock Guitarist, Diego Ramirez
• The 10 Best Italian Metal Bands, According to the Country’s New Post-Metal Phenoms Orbita (Exclusive)
• The 10 Best Belgian Metal Bands of All Time, According to Gnarly Native Sons 30,000 Monkies (Exclusive)
• Edge of Sanity Frontman Dan Swanö Reveals 10 Swedish Bands That Made Their Way Into His Musical DNA
• The 10 Best Swedish Heavy Bands Ever, According to Native Sons Prime Creation
• The 10 Best Portuguese Heavy Bands Ever, According to Portugal’s Own Fernando Ribeiro of Moonspell
• Germany’s Top 10 Best Metal Bands Ever, Per the Country’s Native Death-Metal Sons Fleshcrawl
• The 10 Best Finnish Bands Ever, According to Natives the Feral Kids
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