Equilibrium is a German symphonic folk metal band from

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

. The band's music combines elements of

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has ...

, pagan metal,

melodic black metal Blackened death metal (also known as black death metal) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal that fuses elements of black metal and death metal. The genre emerged in early 1990s when black metal bands began incorporating elements of death me ...

and

symphonic metal Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. The style features the heavy drums and guita ...

with various other influences. Their riffs reflect traditional Germanic melodies. Their lyrical themes focus on Germanic tales and

Germanic mythology Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism. Origins As the Germanic lang ...

. The songs of the band are almost always in German, although most recently they prioritized the English in their songs, mostly with their sixth album ''Renegades'' (2019).

History

The group toured with

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain ...

and Sycronomica in 2005. The following year they signed a contract with the

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

record label and on 27 June 2008 they released their second album, '' Sagas''. In February 2010, Equilibrium had to cancel their appearance at the Winterfire Festival in Germany "due to serious restructuring within the band". It was later revealed that vocalist Helge Stang and drummer Manuel DiCamillo had left the band. The following month the band announced that Robse, vocalist in the German pagan metal band Vrankenvorde, had been chosen as their new vocalist. In the same year, Israeli drummer Tuval "Hati" Refaeli, who is also the drummer of the brutal death metal band Viscera Trail joined the band. The band, full again, released their third album, '' Rekreatur'', via Nuclear Blast, on 18 June 2010. On 27 June 2013, the band announced their first EP, titled ''Waldschrein'', which contains a new single along with its acoustic version, a remake of the song "Der Sturm" and an old, previously unreleased song titled "Zwergenhammer", as well as their own cover of the main theme for the game '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim'', composed by Jeremy Soule, titled "Himmelsrand". The EP was released on 16 August 2013. The song "Waldschrein" is part of the next album of the band, ''Erdentempel'', which was released in June 2014. However, the album contains a completely re-recorded version of the song. Two days after the announcement of the album, founding members and siblings Andreas Völkl and Sandra Van Eldik decided to leave the band for unspecified reasons. On 20 May 2014, it was announced that Dom R. Crey (guitarist of Wolfchant and frontman of Nothgard) would be joining the band as new guitarist, replacing Andreas Völkl. On 7 June 2014, one day after ''Erdentempel'' release, it was announced that Jen Majura would be joining the band as new bassist, replacing Sandra Van Eldik. With her addition to the band, Equilibrium is complete once again. The band promoted the release of their new album with a European tour, supported by Trollfest and Dom's other band Nothgard. On 2 November 2015, the band announced via Facebook that bass player Jen Majura had left the band. On 22 August 2016, the band's fifth album ''Armageddon'' was released via Nuclear Blast. On 22 May 2019, the band announced their sixth album ''Renegades'', which was released on 23 August 2019 via Nuclear Blast. This album is the first one featuring new keyboardist Skadi Rosehurst and new bassist and clean vocalist Skar (Skar Productions on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

). On 13 August 2021, Equilibrium released a new single, titled "Revolution", and announced that they are expected to release their seventh studio album in 2022. On 27 October 2021, the band will release their new single, "XX", to celebrate their 20th anniversary. On 3 October 2022, citing a loss of "symbiosis", Equilibrium announced the departure of Robse as vocalist, wishing him well for the future

Band members

; Current members *René "Berthammer" Berthiaume − guitars (2001–present), keyboards (2003–2005, 2006–2019), clean vocals (2014–2019), bass (2015–2016) *Tuval "Hati" Refaeli – drums (2010–present) *Dom R. Crey – guitars, unclean vocals (2014–present) *Skadi Rosehurst – keyboards (2019–present) *Martin Skar Berger – bass, clean vocals (2019–present) File:Equilibrium Rockharz 2018 21.jpg, Robert "Robse" Dahn File:Equilibrium Rockharz Open Air 2014 03.JPG, René Berthiaume File:Equilibrium Rockharz 2018 07.jpg, Tuval "Hati" Refaeli File:Equilibrium Rockharz 2018 01.jpg, Dominik "Dom" Crey ; Former members *Robert "Robse" Dahn – unclean and clean vocals (2010-2022) *Makki Solvalt – bass (2016–2019) * Jen Majura – bass (2014–2015) *Andreas Völkl − guitars (2001–2014) *Sandra Van Eldik − bass (2001–2014) *Helge Stang − unclean and clean vocals (2001–2010) *Manuel DiCamillo − drums (2006–2010) *Markus Perschke − drums (2005–2006) *Basti Kriegl − drums (2005) *Julius Koblitzek − drums (2003–2004) *Henning Stein − drums (2001–2003) *Armin Dörfler − keyboards (2005–2006) *Conny Kaiser − keyboards (2002–2003) *Michael Heidenreich − keyboards (2001–2002)

Timeline

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Turis Fratyr'' (2005) – Black Attakk *'' Sagas'' (2008) –

*'' Rekreatur'' (2010) – Nuclear Blast *'' Erdentempel'' (2014) – Nuclear Blast *'' Armageddon'' (2016) – Nuclear Blast *'' Renegades'' (2019) – Nuclear Blast

Singles

*"Die Affeninsel" (2010) – Nuclear Blast *"Karawane" (2014) – Nuclear Blast *"Renegades – A Lost Generation" (2019) – Nuclear Blast *"Path of Destiny" (2019) – Nuclear Blast *"One Folk" (2020) – Nuclear Blast *"Revolution" (2021) – Nuclear Blast *"XX" (2021) – Nuclear Blast

EPs

*''Waldschrein'' (2013) – Nuclear Blast

Demos

*''Demo 2003'' (2003)

Music videos

*"Blut im Auge" (2008) *"Der Ewige Sieg" (2010) *"Wirtshaus Gaudi" (2014) *"Eternal Destination" (2016) *"Rise Again" (2016) *"Renegades – A Lost Generation" (2019) *"Path of Destiny" (2019) *"Final Tear" (2019) *"One Folk" (2020) *"Revolution" (2021) *"XX" (2021)

Lyric videos

*"Prey" (2016) *"Born to Be Epic" (2016)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Equilibrium German folk metal musical groups German symphonic metal musical groups Viking metal musical groups German black metal musical groups Symphonic black metal musical groups Musical groups established in 2003 Musical quintets Nuclear Blast artists 2001 establishments in Germany