Die Apokalyptischen Reiter

Die Apokalyptischen Reiter is a Weimar, Germany based heavy metal band signed to Nuclear Blast in Europe and The End Records in North America. Their name translates to The Apocalyptic Horsemen. Their original style (featured on their releases up to and including Allegro Barbaro - and 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 has 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), resulting in a more polished and accessible sound. They use lyrics in both English and German with a shift from mainly English songs to more German ones on recent albums (Licht is purely 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.