| Progressive | 1994 |
| Once... Upon A December's Dawn | 1995 |
| And Thou Shalt Trust... The Seer | 1997 |
| Awaking The Centuries | 2000 |
| Awakening The Gods - Live In Mexico | 2001 |
Haggard are a lot (and I mean a lot too, we're talking about 16 people in this band) of German guys who thought that it would be boring to make regular old death metal, so instead they decided to give the genre a brand new twist. Classical death metal. Not just death metal with classical elements, like Paramaecium or black metal with classical music like Therion, though Therion would be the closest comparison. They basically take that style and up it another notch, to the point where it seems like this is not even rock anymore. But its' good. I've heard numerous bad reports about how Therion became incredibly boring when Johnsson to the classical to the extreme, but here it is a perfect blend between the two, all filled with loads of great melodies.
Maybe the best picture of the band you can get would be through the lineup, so here goes: Florian Bartl (oboe), Karin Bodenmüller (soprano), Fiffi Fuhrmann (crumhorn), Kathrin Hertz (cello), Steffi Hertz (viola), Danny Klupp (accoustic guitars), Kerstin Krainer (Violin), Luz Marsen (drums & kettledrums), Robert Müller (clarinet), Andi Nad (bass), Asis Nasseri (vocals, growls & guitars), Kathrin Pechlof (harp), Sasema (soprano), Florian Schnellinger (bass vocals), Hans Wolf (piano, cembalo, keyboards), Christoph v. Zastrow (flute). Haggard's also got a website at http://www.haggard.de, so if you want to know more then go there.
--Robert Grazer
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: De La Morte Noir, The Day As Heaven Wept, Lost, Origin Of A Crystal Soul. LOW POINTS: Cantus Firmus In A Minor.
On Haggard's first full length debut they display their unique style of music as though they've been doing it for years, which they had, actually, since their first works goes back as far as 1994. Nevertheless the great sound is shown right in the opening "The Day As Heaven Wept" with an acoustic beginning before the flute leads the song and trades off with the violin a few times, before the drum and basses and sopranos begin the vocals. The acoustic guitar, piano, harp all make their appearances. Then the oboe in all its glory begins as the bliss continues with some wonderful whispers. Then a flute solo. What beauty. Oh, death metal? Yeah, about three and a half minutes in Asis' growls and the distorted guitars begin, but it's barely thirty seconds before the violin and flutes return, backing his growled words. Everything flows, the classical, the death metal, the keyboards, cello, it's all here. What a great song.
Haggard's got their own choir (like Therion and, hehe, Blind Guardian) as you can easily see in "Origin Of A Crystal Soul," which does give the classical music a gorgeous instrumental section before Asis returns in some language I don't know. Hey, it still sounds good. And there's some conceptual ties in here as well, as the song repeats a few of the themes from "The Day As Heaven Wept" toward the end. the first real epic of the album at over nine minutes is perhaps just a tad too long in a few places, but really, how can you seriously knock on so much awesome Haggard classical metal? Its dramatic music, an epic story, make "In A Pale Moon's Shadow" out to be another winner.
The other major epic on the album is more successful, to the point that I'd venture to call it the finest song on the album. The melodies are beautiful beyond words. Our favorite theme pops up again on the great "Lost" which serves as a climax to the concept that the music has been following. And finally it's the tribal beat of "A Midnight Gathering" which never moves beyond the drums choir and flute. The tribal atmosphere is kept perfectly throughout, leaving the album well done.
There are two instrumental interludes on the album, the first of which is a pretty one called "Requiem in D Minor" shifts through several moods quite quickly and smoothly. The second ("Canuts Firmus in A Minor") is the only real flaw on the album as it repeats the same simple melodies too much for its own good. But with great melodies, perfect arrangements, epic lyrics, and more Haggard know what they're doing, making And Thou Shalt Trust... The Seer one of the best albums of 1997, and one of the most unique metal releases I've ever heard.
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(reviewed by Robert Grazer)
HIGH POINTS: Awaking the Centuries, (I) Prophecy Fulfilled/(II) And The Dark Night Entered, In a Fullmoon Procession. LOW POINTS: None.
Much more confident than the debut, since I think the band has finally decided how they want to play their music. There’s actually less of certain orchestral instruments in here, the flute and harp in particular, and more emphasis on the strings and keyboards. But this is fine, and their classical death metal still has one of the most unique sounds I've ever heard. Awaking The Centuries is a concept album, I’m not exactly sure about the concept since I don’t really pay attention to the lyrics as much as I do the music, particularly with a band like this. As long as their vocal melodies are good, I Don’t mind what they're saying, whether it’s in German or English. There’s also a couple skits done on a few tracks, and I’m sure that these are quite deep and important, and they add to the mood, but as I said I’m not nearly as interested in the band’s lyrical vision as I am in the quality music they produce. Maybe one day I'll sit down and figure it all out.
Overall the highlights here are even better than those on the band's debut, even though I still think that “The Day As Heaven Wept” remains their defining moment. But here the long epic title track works much better than the attempt from the first album. From the powerful strings through the piano solo and all of the vocal performances, it’s completely unforgettable, filled with some of the best melodies the band has come up with thus far. A perfect mix of English soprano work and growls in German comes through, effectively giving the song a medieval feel. It’s one of the best extreme metal (if you can even give Haggard that label anymore) epics I've ever heard.
From there there’s also the glory to be found in “In A Fullmoon Procession,” and particularly the climactic eighth track (“(I) Prophecy Fulfilled/(II) And The Dark Night Entered”) where you can really see how far the band has come just after one release. It’s quite encouraging, and I eagerly await their next album, but if there’s any indication in the years between the debut and this, I may be waiting awhile, but just as long as they're making music of this caliber, I won't really mind.
The one complaint I have about this album, one that forces me to call it inferior to the debut is that there aren't that many real songs on here. Just a three or four with a bunch of interludes, and as a result the album is under forty minutes long. I would have thought the band would deliver more than that after three years. There’s just not enough of the great music here for me to rate it as high as I'd like. A couple more songs like “Awaking The Centuries” or “In A Fullmoon Procession” and I'd easily call this the album of the year. As such, it just ranks as a solid entry into the bands catalogue, and makes me eager to hear their next album.
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