In Extremo
In Extremo (Latin for At the Edge; abbreviated InEx or IE) is a German Medieval metal band originating from Berlin. The band's musical style combines metal with Medieval traditional songs, blending the sound of the standard rock/metal instruments with historical instruments (such as bagpipes, harp, hurdy-gurdy and shawm). Versions of well-known traditional/Medieval ballads make up the main part of their repertoire, but the band has written an increasing share of original material in recent years. Their own material is written in German, whilst the traditional songs and cover songs are in a variety of languages. History In Extremo began as two projects: a nameless, purely Medieval band, and a rock band. They became known at that time through frequent appearances at Medieval market meetings, at which they performed their acoustic pieces and sold CDs of their renditions of traditional songs. On 11 April 1995, during the recording for that year's season, Michael Rhein (alias "Das letzte Einhorn", "The Last Unicorn") found the project name "In Extremo". Most of the band members perform under stage names. The initial members of the Medieval band were Das letzte Einhorn (vocals), "Flex der Biegsame" ("Flex the Flexible"; bagpipes), "Dr. Pymonte" (bagpipes), Conny Fuchs (who left the band before the official release date, due to her pregnancy, and was replaced by Dr. Pymonte) and Sen Pusterbalg (replaced shortly after the official release by "Yellow Pfeiffer", "Yellow Piper"; bagpipes). The band originally consisted of "Thomas der Münzer" ("Thomas the Coiner"; guitar), "Der Morgenstern" ("The Morning Star"; drums) and "Die Lutter" ("The Lutter", bass guitar). Der Münzer subsequently left the band and, , the band's guitarist is "Van Lange". As noted below, almost all of the band members play multiple instruments. The increasing number of visitors, success of their CDs and the popular interest, as well as cross-pollination from groups such as Corvus Corax and Bathory, encouraged In Extremo in 1995 to attempt to start a band combining bagpipes and other traditional instruments with rock guitars. The result was the current incarnation of In Extremo, a rock group that integrates modern instruments like the drum set, electric bass and guitar with the acoustic elements previously used for the Medieval songs, and which plays both types of music as well as a hybrid of the two. In August 1996, they began work on the first In Extremo album, which already contained two tracks of the new rock project. Because the album had no official name, it became known as Gold because of the golden cover. In February 1997, like the single "Der Galgen" ("The Gallows"), it quickly sold out in Medieval markets. In Extremo played separately as a Medieval band and a rock band, until on 29 March 1997, when they played their first live rock concert. Since that time, they have given this date as their date of establishment. The two projects were officially merged on 11 January 1998. April 1998 saw the first "high occupancy" In Extremo concert in the Rabenstein castle in Brandenburg. Over the