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Absurd (band)

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This article is about the German black metal band from the 1990s. For the philosophical concept, see The Absurd (philosophy).

Absurd
OriginSondershausen, Germany
GenresBlack metal,[1] pagan metal,[2] RAC
Years active1992-1994, 1994-1995, 1998-2012, 2017–present
LabelsWeltenfeind
Darker Than Black
MembersJFN
Widar
Leichenaar
KPS
Unhold
Gelal
Past membersC. H. Surt
Damien Thorn
Dark Mark Doom
Wolf
Tormentor
Thorns
Ansuz
Vinzent
Deimos[3]
Websitehttps://weltenfeind.com/absurd

Absurd is a German black metal band[4] that has been classified as a "right-wing extremist" group by the Thuringian Landesbehörde für Verfassungsschutz.[5]

The band was founded in Sondershausen by Hendrik Möbus (also known as Randall Flagg, Jarl Flagg Nidhögg and JFN) and Sebastian Schauseil (Dark Mark Doom) 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 (not in the band since 1999) murdered Sandro Beyer, a 15-year-old boy,[6] in 1993. The canonical motive is that Beyer was privy to an illicit relationship of Schauseil's with a married woman, and had been spreading rumours about this and other activities of the band.[7] On 29 April in Sondershausen, the then-17-year-old band members 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—now I've completely ruined my life."[8] Schauseil claimed to have heard a voice in his head saying the nonsensical phrase "Kuster Maier", which he interpreted as "Töte Beyer" ("Kill Beyer").[9]

Hendrik Möbus

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In prison, Möbus (born 20 January 1976)[10] was able to carry on with the band under the temporary name "In Ketten" (German for "In Chains").[citation needed] A live album was recorded in prison and had since been released on vinyl. 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".[11]

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,[12] which is illegal in Germany. Hendrik and his brother Ronald "Wolf" Möbus also posed together in a series of photographs at Auschwitz death camp, holding up Nazi banners inside a gas chamber and outside barracks.[13] His parole was consequently revoked. He managed to flee to the United States, where he met William Luther Pierce, but was captured there.[14] During his stay in America he also got in a conflict about money with some of his contacts who he stayed with for some time, one of them being the then neo-Nazi pagan occultist Nathan Pett, who later left the far-right scene, and was apparently beaten with a hammer and threatened with a pistol by two persons.[15] At first this was just a rumour, but Möbus later admitted in an interview for a neo-Nazi site that the incident had taken place. 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.[citation needed] Möbus has since been freed and runs his own music label, called Darker Than Black Records (founded in 1994), which distributes NSBM albums and merchandise on an organized scale since 2007. Antifascist Action in Germany has organized at least one demonstration in late 2014 to protest against the racist music shop Möbus owns together with one other person.[16] [better source needed] Two cars belonging to Möbus were damaged in an arson which the Antifascist Action Germany claimed responsibility for, during a campaign in Berlin where there were also posters with Möbus' face and personal information put up, and graffiti with messages against him and the label.[17][18] When released from the last prison sentence, Möbus appeared on stage during a neo-Nazi event, although did not play anything.

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 played drums in Absurd), and the neofolk band In Acht und Bann.

In 2002, Pantheon (USA) released a tribute album to Möbus, called Jarl die Freiheit ('Jarl of Freedom').

In 2019, Hendrik Möbus was confronted by parts of the audience during a concert in Denmark. A fight erupted and Möbus was attacked by a group of unidentified people from the audience who left the concert afterwards, but returned and threw pepper spray at Möbus, which interrupted the show for a while.[19]

Band history since 1999

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The band Absurd has continued in existence since 1999, going through many changes of personnel, and losing all of its original members. The main line-up features Wolf, Hendrik's brother, handling vocals and Sven "Unhold" Zimper handling the instruments, with Sebastian Schauseil performing the occasional clean vocal part on releases such as Asgardsrei (1999), Werwolfthron (2001), and Totenlieder (2002). Wolf and Unhold also released further albums as a duo; Blutgericht (2005), Der fünfzehnjährige Krieg (2008) and Weltenfeind (2009), a split with Grand Belial's Key and Sigrblot.

In 2017 Hendrik Möbus assembled a lineup to perform live as Absurd at Asgardsrei, neither Wolf nor Unhold authorized the performances.[citation needed] In 2019, Gelal Necrosodomy of Arghoslent and Grand Belial's Key joined the band and was featured in the EP's Pure Darkness (2020) and Grabgesang (2021), Wolf performed vocals in the latter EP but has since left the band permanently to focus on a different project. In 2022, Hendrik Möbus released a new album as Absurd, titled Schwarze Bande, and both his version and Unhold's version are separately claiming to be the "real band".

Band members

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Unhold's Absurd
  • Unhold (Sven Zimper) – bass, drums, guitar, vocals (1999–2012, 2019–)
  • Gelal (Alexander Halac) – guitar (2019–)
JFN's Absurd
  • JFN (Hendrik Möbus) – drums (1992–1994, 1998–1999) vocals (2017–)
  • Widar (Markus Hartmann) - guitar (2020–)
  • Leichenaar - bass (2020–)
  • KPS - drums (2020–)

Past members

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  • C. H. Surt (Andreas Kirchner) – bass (1992–1994)
  • Damien Thorn (Udo H.) – bass, guitar (1992)
  • Dark Mark Doom (Sebastian Schauseil) – bass, guitar, vocals (1992–1994, 1998–1999)
  • Wolf (Ronald Möbus) – vocals (1992–1994, 1999–2012, 2019, 2021)
  • Tormentor – bass, guitar (2004)
  • Thorns (Martin Göring) – drums (2017–2019)
  • Ansuz – guitar (2017–2018)
  • Vinzent – guitar (2017–2018)
  • Deimos – guitar (2017–2019)

Music style

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The demos and the first album Facta Loquuntur have strong Oi! and Rock Against Communism (RAC) influences.[20] Their musical idols were bands like Mercyful Fate/King Diamond,[20] Manowar,[20][21] Danzig[20][21] and especially Der Fluch,[20][21] a band covered by Absurd on both Der fünfzehnjährige Krieg and the split release Weltenfeind, whereas the Scandinavian bands were no significant musical or lyrical influence.[20][21] On the other hand, the band called itself a black metal band from the very beginning; in an interview with the student magazine at his school, Hendrik Möbus said Absurd would play the hardest, rawest and most ingenious black metal in Germany.[22] [better source needed] Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind classified the band's early recordings "more akin to '60s garage punk than some of the [...] Black Metal of their contemporaries",[23] 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.[1] In an ad 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").[24] The Mansion of Metal site classified it as "essentially crappy punk rock/RAC" and claimed the Thuringian Pagan Madness demo to have black metal influences.[25]

Hendrik Möbus called the Asgardsrei EP the band's first holistic piece of work, with adjusted concept and layout, representing the band's step away from its former musical dilettantism; however, he still described some of it as dilettante, and Ronald Möbus criticised the final mixing.[26]

Discography

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Demos

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  • 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

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  • Facta Loquuntur (No Colours, 1996)
  • Werwolfthron (Nebelfee Klangwerke, 2001)
  • Totenlieder (Nebelfee Klangwerke / World Terror Committee, 2003)
  • Blutgericht (Nebelfee Klangwerke / World Terror Committee, 2005)
  • Der Fünfzehnjährige Krieg (Nebelklang Klangwerke / World Terror Committee, 2008)
  • Schwarze Bande (Darker Than Black, 2022)
  • Werwolflicht (Weltenfeind, 2024)

EPs/splits

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  • 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 Key and Sigrblot (WTC, 2008)
  • Größer als der Tod EP (Darker Than Black, 2014)
  • Thuringian Pagan Madmen split with Dark Fury, Barad Dûr and Goatmoon (self-released, 2020)
  • Pure Darkness EP (Weltenfeind, 2020)
  • Grabgesang EP (Weltenfeind, 2021)
  • Welcome to the Anarchy split with Abyssic Hate (Darker Than Black, 2022)
  • Berserks of the Asgardsrei split with Evil (Darker Than Black, 2022)
  • Sieben Tage des Feuers / Tối nay chúng ta sẽ đến split with Vothana (Darker Than Black, 2022)
  • Vigilante EP (Darker Than Black, 2023)
  • Das Heer aus dem Dunkel EP (Darker Than Black, 2023)

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Christian Dornbusch, Hans-Peter Killguss: Unheilige Allianzen. Black Metal zwischen Satanismus, Heidentum und Neonazismus, p. 52.
  2. ^ [1][permanent dead link]
  3. ^ Eski Üyeler, Encyclopaedia Metallum, Absurd, Past Members.
  4. ^ Thilo Thielke: Töten für Wotan. In: Der Spiegel, no. 38, 2000, 18 September 2000, p 134.
  5. ^ Verfassungsschutzbericht des Freistaats Thüringen – 1999 (PDF Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine) Punkt 4.6
  6. ^ "Der Satansmord - Der Satansmord – Tod eines Schülers - Sendungs A bis Z - ARD | Das Erste" (in German). 31 May 2001. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
  7. ^ Michael Moynihan, Didrik Søderlind: Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. Feral House 1998, p. 256ff.
  8. ^ Michael Moynihan, Didrik Søderlind: Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. Feral House 1998, p. 246.
  9. ^ Michael Moynihan, Didrik Søderlind: Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. Feral House 1998, p. 247ff.
  10. ^ Robert Nowotny (2001), Satanismus – Gefahr für die Innere Sicherheit ? (PDF), Villingen-Schwenningen: Fachhochschule Villingen-Schwenningen, p. 18, retrieved 11 June 2010
  11. ^ Absurd: Thuringian Pagan Madness, Capricornus Prod. 1995.
  12. ^ Fick Dich (16 April 2012). "Absurd-Bericht Spiegel tv" – via YouTube.[dead YouTube link]
  13. ^ Thielke, Thilo (17 September 2000). "NEONAZIS : Töten für Wotan – DER SPIEGEL 38/2000". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  14. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 8 August 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. ^ "German Extremist Loses Bid for U.S. Asylum". Splcenter.org. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  16. ^ "Anti-Fascists rally against Shop of Neonazi Hendrik Möbus in Berlin | Demotix.com". Archived from the original on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  17. ^ "Loading..." blightofplebians.com. Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  18. ^ "[B] auto von nazi möbus angezündet | linksunten.indymedia.org". Archived from the original on 27 February 2015. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  19. ^ "German nazi-musician confirms: I was assaulted in Copenhagen News". Jellypages.com. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
  20. ^ a b c d e f Michael Moynihan, Didrik Søderlind: Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. Feral House 1998, p. 250ff.
  21. ^ a b c d "Mit den größten und nachhaltigsten Einfluß auf uns, sowohl musikalisch als auch lyrisch, haben nicht etwa skandinavische Black Metal-Bands ausgeübt. Neben Manowar und Danzig war es vielmehr eine deutsche Horrorpunk-Band, welche zum Zeitpunkt unserer Bandgründung bisher nur zwei Veröffentlichungen in den frühen 1980er-Jahren herausgebracht hatte. Diese Inspiration wirkt bis heute fort." Absurd: Der fünfzehnjährige Krieg, W.T.C. Productions/Nebelfee Klangwerke/Darker Than Black Records 2008.
  22. ^ Billerbeck, Liane von; Nordhausen, Frank: Satanskinder. Der Mordfall von Sondershausen und die rechte Szene. 3. revised edition, Berlin 2001, p. 158.
  23. ^ Michael Moynihan, Didrik Søderlind: Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground. Feral House 1998, p. 260ff.
  24. ^ Sub Line, no. 3, march 1993, p. 53.
  25. ^ "Wayback machine". 20 January 2008. Archived from the original on 20 January 2008.
  26. ^ "Interview by Sheol-Mag". Archived from the original on 18 October 2009.
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