MEMENTO MORI WITH HAUPTMANN FEUERSCHWANZ
Memento Mori 2021 was created during the lockdown in winter 2020/2021. The overall mood in Germany at that time was pretty bad; that’s why we wrote many battle songs. The whole album is a battle cry against the global pandemic. Within the band, there are small creative groups that work together. Our singer Hodi writes the music mainly with our guitarist Hans. The lyrics are being created in collaboration between the singers Hauptmann and Hodi. All of this is combined and revised by our producer and studio engineer, Simon Michael. Our violinists Johanna and Hans are responsible for the promotion and social media plans.
We had a two-year cycle for a new album in our band history, until ‘Memento Mori’. That was ideal for the creative process and gave us enough time to promote the album. Due to the consequences of the pandemic, we decided to shorten this cycle because we didn’t want to bury our heads in the sand. Therefore, the creative process also depends on the pandemic situation.
Feuerschwanz’s roots come from the Medieval Folk-Rock scene in Germany. Traditionally this scene deals with themes of the Middle Ages or the freedom of the minstrels in general. Feuerschwanz never really took itself seriously and satirised many topics, which was our trademark in the past. Feuerschwanz created a new mix of fantasy, folk and metal when turning to metal. We often use Nordic myths and the life and work of the Vikings as topics and sing about the deeds of the church towards the natural religions. And of course, we always sing full-throated about our favourite drink: the mead!
Feuerschwanz followed a hedonistic path in the Medieval Folk Scene, full of drinking songs and persiflage. Feuerschwanz gained a reputation and a loyal fan base. In 2016, we believed that Feuerschwanz had made the best possible use of its previous direction as a party band. And so we thought about a change of directions to get new fans on board. Due to the fact that we have a real metal racehorse playing the guitar, who only longed to be allowed to play harder, and as we all are fans of metal, a plan was born. Feuerschwanz will become a metal band.
For Feuerschwanz, music has always been a means to generate emotions and energy in the audience. We realised very early that a band also has to deliver a good show and so our ‘Miezen’ has been supporting us since the early years. When we changed to the metal genre, we had the unique chance to rearrange the character of our music. We used the chance to create a special mixture of fantasy, folk and metal. Only a few metals bands are singing in German so far, which was also a fun new development for Feuerschwanz. Another addition to the last two albums ‘Das 11. Gebot’ and ‘Memento Mori’ are deeper lyrical themes. For example, the fragility and finiteness of our life and the appeal to live it to the fullest every day.
http://feuerschwanz.de
