Sterneneisen

In early 2010, In Extremo for several reasons had to part with its drummer Der Morgenstern, because of the upcoming concerts it was urgent to seek a replacement. Florian Speckardt, nicknamed Specki TD, who at that time played Letzte Instanz , another German folk metal band, became the new member of the band’s team. After lengthy rehearsals, his candidacy was unanimously approved, and the new drummer went with the group on a festival tour, and also successfully played at the anniversary concerts of the band 15 Wahre Jahre. Immediately upon their completion, in August 2010, the group began recording a new album ^[3] .

This time, things went much faster and easier due to the fact that, firstly, a new face with fresh forces (Shpeks) joined the process, and secondly, thanks to the many years of experience in Extremo and the inspiration received at the anniversary festival. A huge number of songs were written, which gradually narrowed, and as a result only 12 entered the album, another 3 were selected as various bonus compositions. The rest went to the archives, later some were published in a modified form on subsequent albums ^[3] .

This time the group moved even further away from its original genre, having hit more hard music and lyrics of its own composition. The album is characterized by a powerful rhythm section, percussion instruments, but, in addition, and a striking predominance of wind instruments, bagpipes and shalmeys. Of the 12 lyrics, 11 were written by the group itself, and only one is a spell in Old Estonian ^[4] .

In September, In Extremo traditionally went to Principal Studio to continue work on the remaining songs and complete the album. The songs this time revealed topics such as freedom and friendship within the group (“Zigeunerskat”, “Sterneneisen”), persecution mania (“Stalker”), alcohol (“Viva la vida”, “Wahre Freunde”), death penalty (“ Auge um Auge "), love (" Ich vermiss dich "," Heut Morgen "," Schau zum Mond "," Unsichtbar ") and the craft of a street musician (" Unsichtbar "), and some refer to fairy tales (" Gold ", Schau zum Mond). In addition, the album remotely traces a single theme - stars and far space ("Sterneneisen", "Hol die Sterne", "Schau zum Mond", "Siehst du das Licht"), although In Extremo themselves always in every possible way deny the conceptual nature of their albums ^{[ 5]} . On the album, there were some guest musicians - “Unsichtbar” together with Michael played Mille Petrozza from the group Kreator , and “Hol die Sterne” - Der Graf from Unheilig ^[6] .

The Sterneneisen album was released on February 25, 2011 in several versions - both standard and in extended and limited editions, including various additional bonuses like t-shirts, stickers, etc. The special edition of the album includes a second disc (DVD), which includes a short film about the creation of the album, as well as a partially recorded concert in Erfurt at the 15th Wahre Jahre In Extremo anniversary festival (9 songs). There is also a special limited edition, which also includes a CD version of the concert in Erfurt.

The album repeated the success of its predecessor, Sängerkrieg , again taking first place in the German charts and lasting there for 18 weeks. In addition, the album also received the status of gold (sold over 100,000 copies). Critics generally warmly welcomed the new work of the group, despite the almost complete absence of songs in foreign languages. The tour in support of the album took place in 2011-2012, including many festivals (also the famous Full Metal Cruise - a ferry cruise on the southern coast of North America, Jamaica and Cuba), affecting the cities of the USA, Europe and Russia (Moscow and St. Petersburg). In addition, in 2011, as part of the In Extremo tour, they first visited Ukraine (Kiev).

All songs from the album, except for “Auge um Auge”, “Schau zum Mond” and “Ich vermiss dich” were performed at concerts. All three bonus songs have never been played either. Several songs were included in the “permanent” set-list of the group and are now performed almost everywhere - “Zigeunerskat”, “Viva la vida” and “Unsichtbar”.

Zauberspruch No. VII is an old Estonian healing spell.

• In the song “Zigeunerskat” there are lines: “... Koenigschellen / Ihr wisst, die so laut wie Hunde bellen” (trans. “King of Buboes, you know, loud, like a dog barking”). This is a reference to the group’s early work - a small poem by which the group sometimes began its performances and which can be heard in the song “Merseburger Zaubersprueche I” from the album Verehrt und Angespien , “Ansage 6 Vagabunden” with Die Verrückten sind in der Stadt and “Ecce Rex / Bandary ”from the album Die Goldene ^[7] .
• The clips were shot for three songs from the album: “Zigeunerskat” (cut from previous clips and filming from 15 Wahre Jahre), “Siehst du das Licht” and “Viva la vida” (both are professional shooting live performances).
• The single “Zigeunerskat” released the song “Wahre Freunde”, which tells about drunkenness and true friendship, and the single “Siehst du das Licht” released the song “Heut Morgen”, a tragic ballad about love. In addition, the song “Wolkenmeer” was released as an Internet release, however, it is not listed in the official discography of the group, as it was not published on any media.

• Das letzte Einhorn - vocals, harmonica
• Dr. Pymonte - harp, bagpipe
• Yellow Pfeiffer - bagpipes, shalmey, nickelharp
• Flex der Biegsame - bagpipes, shalmey, wheeled lyre
• Van Lange - Guitar
• Die Lutter - Bass
• Specki TD - drums
• Mille Petrozza - Vocals (No. 11)
• Der Graf - Vocals (No. 6)

• Official site In Extremo