Absurd (band)
Encyclopedia
Absurd is one of the best-known black metal
and pagan metal
bands in Germany
, classified as right-wing extremist by the Thuringia
n Landesbehörde für Verfassungsschutz.
The band was originally founded in Sondershausen
by Hendrik Möbus (also known as - on the circuit and later on official Compact Cassette
and later CD liner notes - as Randall Flagg / Jarl Flagg Nidhögg / JFN) and Sebastian Schauseil in 1992, with a third member, Andreas Kirchner, joining at a later stage.
Their lyrics concern nationalistic, pagan (Hendrik Möbus is the founder of the Deutsche Heidnische Front
), pro-heathen revivalist Germanic
, and anti-Judeo-Christian
themes.
The band achieved infamy because its (original) members (now no longer in the band since 1999) murdered the 15-year-old Sandro Beyer in 1993. The canonical motive is that Beyer was privy to an illicit relationship of Schauseil's with the mother of a schoolmate, and had been spreading rumours about this and other activities of the band. On 29 April in Sondershausen, Möbus, Schauseil, and Kirchner enticed Beyer to a meeting, and strangled him there with an electrical cord. Kirchner, in a now infamous quotation, was reported as saying: "Oh shit, I completely fucked up my life". Schauseil attempted a plea of insanity, claiming that voices in his head told him to murder Beyer. This was, however, thrown out in court, due to the testimony of psychiatrists who worked with Schauseil after the initial arrest.
groups. No releases were made as 'In Ketten' but some of the tracks recorded were used on the 'Facta Loquuntur' album. The tape Thuringian Pagan Madness shows on its cover the grave of the murdered Sandro Beyer, and inside says: "The cover shows the grave of Sandro B. murdered by horde ABSURD on 29.04.93 AB"..
The band members were released on parole in 1998, because they had been under eighteen when they had committed their crime. Shortly after release, Möbus violated the terms of his parole when at a concert he performed the Hitler salute
, which is illegal in Germany. His parole was consequently revoked. He managed to flee to the United States
, where he met William Luther Pierce
, but was captured there. He was arrested by U.S. marshals. In 2001, after his request for asylum was denied, he was sent back to prison for the remaining three years for murder. For mocking his victim and for the Hitler salute he was sentenced to a further twenty-six months. On 15 May 2003 he was again sentenced to four years in prison.
Schauseil is still involved with the underground metal-scene; he performed between 1999 and 2004 with the folk-influenced nationalist band Halgadom, the black metal project Wolfsmond (also featuring bassplayer Unhold, who currently plays drums in Absurd), and the neofolk
band In Acht und Bann. He has distanced himself from National Socialism and politics in general, as evidenced by the current direction of Wolfsmond and as stated in an interview he conducted with Vampire Magazine.
In 2002 Pantheon (USA) released a tribute album to him.
In 2007 Hendrik Möbus was released from German prison. Today he runs his label Darker Than Black (the American subdivision is more active than the German), and he posts on the Christhunt Production forum. He also runs the Merchant of Death label and online store.
” have strong Oi!
and Rock Against Communism
(RAC) influences. Musical idols were bands like Mercyful Fate
, Manowar, Danzig
and especially Der Fluch, a band covered by Absurd on both “Der fünfzehnjährige Krieg” and the split release “Weltenfeind”. On the other hand, the band called itself a black metal band from the very beginning; in an interview with the pupil magazine of his school, Hendrik Möbus said Absurd would play the hardest, rawest and most ingenious black metal in Germany Michael Moynihan
and Didrik Søderlind classified the band’s early recordings as primitive 60’s garage punk, and according to Christian Dornbusch and Hans-Peter Killguss, the second demo Death from the Forest had no similarities to black metal neither of the first nor the second wave, but was rather a mixture of primitive hard rock
and punk rock
elements. Due to its musical dilettantism, the band was not taken seriously by black metallers for a long time. In an add in Sub Line magazine, the same demo was praised as “unholy, hard guitar rock, wild and boisterous; for all the dark souls out there” (“unheiliger, harter Gitarrenrock, wild und ungestüm; für all die schwarzen Seelen dort draußen”). The “Mansion of Metal” classified it as “essentially crappy punk rock/RAC” and claims the “Thuringian Pagan Madness” demo to have black metal influences.
Hendrik Möbus called the “Asgardsrei” EP the band’s first holistic piece of work, adjusted in concept and layout as well, and the band’s step away from its former musical dilettantism; however, still spoke of dilettante music, and Ronald Möbus criticised the final mixing.
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
and pagan metal
Pagan metal
Pagan metal is an umbrella term for heavy metal music which fuses extreme metal with "the pre-Christian traditions of a specific culture or region through thematic concept, rustic melodies, unusual instruments or archaic languages", usually referring to folk metal or black metal. The Norwegian band...
bands in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, classified as right-wing extremist by the Thuringia
Thuringia
The Free State of Thuringia is a state of Germany, located in the central part of the country.It has an area of and 2.29 million inhabitants, making it the sixth smallest by area and the fifth smallest by population of Germany's sixteen states....
n Landesbehörde für Verfassungsschutz.
The band was originally founded in Sondershausen
Sondershausen
Sondershausen is a town in Thuringia, Germany, capital of the Kyffhäuserkreis district, situated about 50 km north of Erfurt. On 1 December 2007, the former municipality Schernberg was incorporated by Sondershausen....
by Hendrik Möbus (also known as - on the circuit and later on official Compact Cassette
Compact Cassette
The Compact Cassette, often referred to as audio cassette, cassette tape, cassette, or simply tape, is a magnetic tape sound recording format. It was designed originally for dictation, but improvements in fidelity led the Compact Cassette to supplant the Stereo 8-track cartridge and reel-to-reel...
and later CD liner notes - as Randall Flagg / Jarl Flagg Nidhögg / JFN) and Sebastian Schauseil in 1992, with a third member, Andreas Kirchner, joining at a later stage.
Their lyrics concern nationalistic, pagan (Hendrik Möbus is the founder of the Deutsche Heidnische Front
Deutsche Heidnische Front
Deutsche Heidnische Front is a far right Neo-pagan group which was created in 1998 as the German section of the Heathen Front...
), pro-heathen revivalist Germanic
Germanic Neopaganism
Germanic neopaganism is the contemporary revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s...
, and anti-Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian
Judeo-Christian is a term used in the United States since the 1940s to refer to standards of ethics said to be held in common by Judaism and Christianity, for example the Ten Commandments...
themes.
The band achieved infamy because its (original) members (now no longer in the band since 1999) murdered the 15-year-old Sandro Beyer in 1993. The canonical motive is that Beyer was privy to an illicit relationship of Schauseil's with the mother of a schoolmate, and had been spreading rumours about this and other activities of the band. On 29 April in Sondershausen, Möbus, Schauseil, and Kirchner enticed Beyer to a meeting, and strangled him there with an electrical cord. Kirchner, in a now infamous quotation, was reported as saying: "Oh shit, I completely fucked up my life". Schauseil attempted a plea of insanity, claiming that voices in his head told him to murder Beyer. This was, however, thrown out in court, due to the testimony of psychiatrists who worked with Schauseil after the initial arrest.
Hendrik Möbus
In prison, Möbus was able to carry on with the band under the temporary name "In Ketten" (German for "In Chains").. After the murder, this became a cult band with Neo-NaziNeo-Nazism
Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II social or political movements seeking to revive Nazism or some variant thereof.The term neo-Nazism can also refer to the ideology of these movements....
groups. No releases were made as 'In Ketten' but some of the tracks recorded were used on the 'Facta Loquuntur' album. The tape Thuringian Pagan Madness shows on its cover the grave of the murdered Sandro Beyer, and inside says: "The cover shows the grave of Sandro B. murdered by horde ABSURD on 29.04.93 AB"..
The band members were released on parole in 1998, because they had been under eighteen when they had committed their crime. Shortly after release, Möbus violated the terms of his parole when at a concert he performed the Hitler salute
Hitler salute
The Nazi salute, or Hitler salute , was a gesture of greeting in Nazi Germany usually accompanied by saying, Heil Hitler! ["Hail Hitler!"], Heil, mein Führer ["Hail, my leader!"], or Sieg Heil! ["Hail victory!"]...
, which is illegal in Germany. His parole was consequently revoked. He managed to flee to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, where he met William Luther Pierce
William Luther Pierce
William Luther Pierce III was the leader of the white separatist National Alliance organization, and one of the most important ideologists of the white nationalist movement. Pierce originally worked as an assistant professor of physics at Oregon State University, before he became involved in...
, but was captured there. He was arrested by U.S. marshals. In 2001, after his request for asylum was denied, he was sent back to prison for the remaining three years for murder. For mocking his victim and for the Hitler salute he was sentenced to a further twenty-six months. On 15 May 2003 he was again sentenced to four years in prison.
Schauseil is still involved with the underground metal-scene; he performed between 1999 and 2004 with the folk-influenced nationalist band Halgadom, the black metal project Wolfsmond (also featuring bassplayer Unhold, who currently plays drums in Absurd), and the neofolk
Neofolk
Neofolk is a form of folk music-inspired experimental music that emerged from post-industrial music circles. Neofolk can either be solely acoustic folk music or a blend of acoustic folk instrumentation aided by varieties of accompanying sounds such as pianos, strings and elements of industrial...
band In Acht und Bann. He has distanced himself from National Socialism and politics in general, as evidenced by the current direction of Wolfsmond and as stated in an interview he conducted with Vampire Magazine.
In 2002 Pantheon (USA) released a tribute album to him.
In 2007 Hendrik Möbus was released from German prison. Today he runs his label Darker Than Black (the American subdivision is more active than the German), and he posts on the Christhunt Production forum. He also runs the Merchant of Death label and online store.
Band history since 1999
The band Absurd has continued in existence since 1999, going through many changes of personnel, and losing all of its original members. The leader is Wolf, Hendrik's brother, with Sebastian Schauseil performing the occasional clean vocal part on releases such as Asgardsrei (1999), Werwolfthron (2001), Totenlieder (2002). Because the band line-up and musical style has changed drastically, many people consider anything that was done after Werwolfthron to be a totally different band.Music style
The demos and the first album “Facta LoquunturFacta Loquuntur
Facta Loquuntur was the first full-length album ever released by the German NSBM band Absurd. The CD / vinyl were originally released on No Colours Records, each limited to 500 copies. A picture disc vinyl version was released on No Colours and Silencelike Death Productions...
” have strong Oi!
Oi!
Oi! is a working class subgenre of punk rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s. The music and its associated subculture had the goal of bringing together punks, skinheads and other working-class youths ....
and Rock Against Communism
Rock Against Communism
Rock Against Communism started out as series of white power rock concerts in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s, and is also a name for the subsequent music genre. Despite its name, RAC song lyrics rarely focus on the specific topic of anti-communism...
(RAC) influences. Musical idols were bands like Mercyful Fate
Mercyful Fate
Mercyful Fate was a Danish heavy metal band from Copenhagen. Initially active from 1981 to 1985, they reunited in 1992. The band went on hiatus again in 2000, when frontman King Diamond decided to continue his solo career...
, Manowar, Danzig
Danzig (band)
Danzig is an American heavy metal band, formed in 1987 in Lodi, New Jersey. The band serves as a musical outlet for the singer/songwriter Glenn Danzig. Danzig can be seen as the third stage in Glenn Danzig's musical career, preceded by the horror punk bands The Misfits and Samhain...
and especially Der Fluch, a band covered by Absurd on both “Der fünfzehnjährige Krieg” and the split release “Weltenfeind”. On the other hand, the band called itself a black metal band from the very beginning; in an interview with the pupil magazine of his school, Hendrik Möbus said Absurd would play the hardest, rawest and most ingenious black metal in Germany Michael Moynihan
Michael Moynihan (journalist)
Michael Moynihan is an American journalist, publisher and musician. He is best known for co-writing the book Lords of Chaos, about black metal....
and Didrik Søderlind classified the band’s early recordings as primitive 60’s garage punk, and according to Christian Dornbusch and Hans-Peter Killguss, the second demo Death from the Forest had no similarities to black metal neither of the first nor the second wave, but was rather a mixture of primitive hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
and punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
elements. Due to its musical dilettantism, the band was not taken seriously by black metallers for a long time. In an add in Sub Line magazine, the same demo was praised as “unholy, hard guitar rock, wild and boisterous; for all the dark souls out there” (“unheiliger, harter Gitarrenrock, wild und ungestüm; für all die schwarzen Seelen dort draußen”). The “Mansion of Metal” classified it as “essentially crappy punk rock/RAC” and claims the “Thuringian Pagan Madness” demo to have black metal influences.
Hendrik Möbus called the “Asgardsrei” EP the band’s first holistic piece of work, adjusted in concept and layout as well, and the band’s step away from its former musical dilettantism; however, still spoke of dilettante music, and Ronald Möbus criticised the final mixing.
Demos
- Eternal Winter (1992)
- God's Death (1992)
- Death from the Forest (1993)
- Sadness (1993)
- Out of the Dungeon (1994)
- Ubungsraum (1994)
- Thuringian Pagan Madness (1995)
- Sonnenritter (1999)
Albums
- Facta LoquunturFacta LoquunturFacta Loquuntur was the first full-length album ever released by the German NSBM band Absurd. The CD / vinyl were originally released on No Colours Records, each limited to 500 copies. A picture disc vinyl version was released on No Colours and Silencelike Death Productions...
(No ColoursNo Colours RecordsNo Colours Records is a German mail order and record label from Mügeln specialised in black metal.- Background :No Colours Records mostly releases Black Metal records, but has also released records related to other extreme metal genres such as thrash and death metal. Most releases appear both on...
, 1996) - WerwolfthronWerwolfthronWerwolfthron is the second full-length album by the band Absurd.The album is made up re-recorded material from the period 1995 to 2001.-Track listing:# "Totentanz" - 01:51# "Über die Gräber hinweg" - 02:51# "Schwarzmond" - 02:31# "Asatr'U" - 03:12...
(Nebelfee Klangwerke, 2001) - TotenliederTotenliederTotenlieder is Absurd's third album. The album has a softer sound, with clean vocals and a more pagan theme. It is also the first Absurd album that was released on Wolf Möbus' label, Nebelfee Klangwerke...
(Nebelfee Klangwerke, 2003) - Blutgericht (Nebelfee Klangwerke 2005)
- Der Fünfzehnjährige Krieg (Darker than Black / Nebelklang, 2008)
EPs/Splits
- God's Death / Sadness (self-released, 1994)
- Totenburg / Die Eiche split with Heldentum (Burznazg / Silencelike Death, 1997)
- Asgardsrei EP (IG Farben, 1999)
- Wolfskrieger/Galdur Vikodlaks split with Pantheon (Nebelfee Klangwerke, 2002)
- Raubritter EP (Nebelfee Klangwerke, 2004)
- Ein Kleiner Vorgeschmack single (Nebelfee Klangwerke, 2005)
- Grimmige Volksmusik EP (Nebelfee Klangwerke, 2005)
- Raubritter / Grimmige Volksmusik (Darker than Black, 2007)
- Weltenfeind split with Grand Belial's KeyGrand Belial's KeyGrand Belial's Key is a black metal band formed in 1992 by guitarist Gelal Necrosodomy and vocalist Lord Vlad Luciferian. Lord Vlad Luciferian was later ejected from the group due to internal differences and joined the formerly Norwegian band Ancient that had moved to the USA, using the new stage...
and Sigrblot (WTC, 2008)
External links
- Absurd official website (German/English)
- Free Hendrik Möbus website (German/English)
- Mourning the Ancient - Interview with Hendrik (2001)
- Mourning the Ancient, founder and webmaster of hendrikmoebus.com and secretary for William Luther PierceWilliam Luther PierceWilliam Luther Pierce III was the leader of the white separatist National Alliance organization, and one of the most important ideologists of the white nationalist movement. Pierce originally worked as an assistant professor of physics at Oregon State University, before he became involved in...
, - Interview with Hendrik - The Case of Hendrik Möbus by Dr. William Pierce - ree Speech - October 2000 - Volume VI, Number 10