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{{About|the German black metal band from the 1990s|the philosophical concept|The Absurd (philosophy)}}
{{morereferences|date=April 2009}}
{{short description|German Nationalist Socialist black metal band}}
{{more citations needed|date=February 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist
{{Infobox musical artist
| Name = Absurd
| name = Absurd
| Img =
| image =
| Img_capt =
| caption =
| Background = group_or_band
| origin = [[Sondershausen]], Germany
| genre = [[Black metal]],<ref name="unheilig" /> [[pagan metal]],<ref name="finalreview">[http://finalw.fi.funpic.de/main.php?cmd=reviews&datei=absurd ]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> [[rock against communism|RAC]]
| Years_active = 1992 — present
| years_active = 1992-1994, 1994-1995, 1998-2012, 2017–present
| Origin = [[Sondershausen]], [[Germany]]
| Genre = [[Black metal]], [[pagan metal]]
| label = Weltenfeind<br />Darker Than Black
| associated_acts =
| Label = [[Resistance Records]]
| website = https://weltenfeind.com/absurd
| Associated_acts =
| current_members = JFN<br />Widar<br />Leichenaar<br />KPS<br />Unhold<br />Gelal
| Current_members = Ronald Wolf<ref name="sheolmag"/> Möbus<br />Sven “Unhold” Zimper
| past_members = C. H. Surt<br />Damien Thorn<br />Dark Mark Doom<br />Wolf<br />Tormentor<br />Thorns<br />Ansuz<br />Vinzent<br />Deimos<ref>[https://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Absurd/383#band_tab_members_past Eski Üyeler], Encyclopaedia Metallum, Absurd, Past Members.</ref>
| Past_members = Hendrik “Jarl Flagg Nidhögg” Möbus<br />Sebastian “Dark Mark Doom” Schauseil<br />Andreas “Chuck Daniels” Kirchner<br />Udo “Damien Thorn” H.<br />Ragnare
| URL = [http://www.hordeabsurd.com/]
}}
}}
'''Absurd''' is one of the best-known [[National Socialist black metal]] bands<ref>Thilo Thielke: ''[http://wissen.spiegel.de/wissen/dokument/dokument.html?id=17376256 Töten für Wotan]'', [[Der Spiegel]] 38/2000 vom 18. September 2000, Seite 134</ref> in [[Germany]], classified as right-wing extremist by the Thuringian Landesbehörde für Verfassungsschutz.<ref>''Verfassungsschutzbericht des Freistaats Thüringen - 1999'' ([http://www.verfassungsschutz.thueringen.de/vsberichte/1999/vsbericht1999.pdf PDF]) Punkt 4.6</ref> It was founded in [[Sondershausen]] by Hendrik Möbus and Sebastian Schauseil in [[1992]], with a third member, Andreas Kirchner, joining at a later stage. Möbus’ brother Ronald (who is also the owner of the label Nebelklang, formerly Nebelfee Klangwerke, on which Absurd are signed) had previously sat in rehearsal sessions with the band at the local YMCA, where they utilized a free rehearsal space open to local teen bands. Their lyrics concern nationalistic, pagan (Hendrik Möbus is the founder of the [[Deutsche Heidnische Front]]), and anti-Christian themes.


'''Absurd''' is a German [[black metal]] band<ref>Thilo Thielke: ''[http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-17376256.html?name=T%26ouml%3Bten+f%26uuml%3Br+Wotan Töten für Wotan]''. In: ''[[Der Spiegel]]'', no. 38, 2000, 18 September 2000, p 134.</ref> that has been classified as a "[[right-wing extremist]]" group by the [[Thuringia]]n [[Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution|Landesbehörde für Verfassungsschutz]].<ref>''Verfassungsschutzbericht des Freistaats Thüringen – 1999'' ([http://www.verfassungsschutz.thueringen.de/vsberichte/1999/vsbericht1999.pdf PDF] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719093726/http://www.verfassungsschutz.thueringen.de/vsberichte/1999/vsbericht1999.pdf |date=19 July 2011 }}) Punkt 4.6</ref>
Despite being considered one of the most well-known and one of the first NSBM bands, these themes did not seem to become that prominent until the 1999 release ''Asgardsrei''.


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.
Though Hendrik Möbus claims [[Euronymous]], the figurehead in the [[Early Norwegian black metal scene|Norwegian black metal circle]], wanted to sign Absurd after hearing their second demo ''Death from the Forest'', this claim is neither founded nor plausible.


Their lyrics concern nationalistic, pagan (Hendrik Möbus is the founder of the [[Deutsche Heidnische Front]]), pro-heathen [[Germanic Neopaganism|revivalist Germanic]], and anti-[[Judeo-Christian]] themes.
The band achieved infamy because its members murdered the fifteen-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.


The band achieved infamy because its original members (not in the band since 1999) murdered Sandro Beyer, a 15-year-old boy,<ref>{{cite web|access-date=2024-01-24|date=2001-05-31|language=de|title=Der Satansmord - Der Satansmord – Tod eines Schülers - Sendungs A bis Z - ARD {{!}} Das Erste|url=https://www.daserste.de/information/reportage-dokumentation/die-grossen-kriminalfaelle/sendung/2001/der-satansmord-tod-eines-schuelers-100.html}}<!-- auto-translated by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> 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.<ref>[[Michael Moynihan (journalist)|Michael Moynihan]], Didrik Søderlind: ''[[Lords of Chaos (book)|Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground]]''. [[Feral House]] 1998, p. 256ff.</ref> 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."<ref>Michael Moynihan, Didrik Søderlind: ''Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground''. Feral House 1998, p. 246.</ref> Schauseil claimed to have heard a voice in his head saying the nonsensical phrase "''Kuster Maier''", which he interpreted as "''Töte Beyer''" ("Kill Beyer").<ref>Michael Moynihan, Didrik Søderlind: ''Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground''. Feral House 1998, p. 247ff.</ref>
== 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-Nazism|Neo-Nazi]] 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".


== Hendrik Möbus<!--'Darker Than Black Records' and 'In Ketten' redirect here--> ==
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.
In prison, Möbus (born 20 January 1976)<ref name="diplomar">{{Citation|author=Robert Nowotny|title=Satanismus – Gefahr für die Innere Sicherheit ?|publisher=Fachhochschule Villingen-Schwenningen|location=Villingen-Schwenningen|year=2001|page=18|url=http://www.aufklaerungsgruppe-krokodil.de/Diplomar.pdf|access-date=2010-06-11}}</ref> was able to carry on with the band under the temporary name "'''In Ketten'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA-->" (German for "In Chains").{{Citation needed|date=October 2010}} 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".<ref>Absurd: ''Thuringian Pagan Madness'', Capricornus Prod. 1995.</ref>


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]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAQdQ0Juml0|title=Absurd-Bericht Spiegel tv|last=Fick Dich|date=16 April 2012|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}</ref> which is [[Strafgesetzbuch section 86a|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.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-17376256.html|title=NEONAZIS : Töten für Wotan – DER SPIEGEL 38/2000|website=Der Spiegel|date=17 September 2000|access-date=6 October 2020|last1=Thielke|first1=Thilo}}</ref> His parole was consequently revoked. He managed to flee to the United States, where he met [[William Luther Pierce]], but was captured there.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.natvan.com/free-speech/fs0010a.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2010-10-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808001524/http://www.natvan.com/free-speech/fs0010a.html |archive-date=8 August 2010}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2001/german-extremist-loses-bid-us-asylum|title=German Extremist Loses Bid for U.S. Asylum|website=Splcenter.org|access-date=6 October 2020}}</ref> 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 [[United States Marshals Service|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|date=February 2012}} Möbus has since been freed and runs his own music label, called '''Darker Than Black Records'''<!--boldface per WP:R#PLA--> (founded in 1994), which distributes NSBM albums and merchandise on an organized scale since 2007. [[Antifa (Germany)|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.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.demotix.com/news/6155717/anti-fascists-rally-against-shop-neonazi-hendrik-m-bus-berlin |title=Anti-Fascists rally against Shop of Neonazi Hendrik Möbus in Berlin &#124; Demotix.com |access-date=26 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702223929/http://www.demotix.com/news/6155717/anti-fascists-rally-against-shop-neonazi-hendrik-m-bus-berlin#media-6155622 |archive-date=2 July 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> {{Better source needed|date=May 2021}} Two [[Car|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blightofplebians.com/jfninterview/|title=Loading...|website=blightofplebians.com|access-date=26 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227010418/http://blightofplebians.com/jfninterview/|archive-date=27 February 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://linksunten.indymedia.org/de/node/120937 |title=&#91;B&#93; auto von nazi möbus angezündet &#124; linksunten.indymedia.org |access-date=2015-02-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227010723/https://linksunten.indymedia.org/de/node/120937 |archive-date=27 February 2015}}</ref> When released from the last prison sentence, Möbus appeared on stage during a neo-Nazi event, although did not play anything.
Möbus is presently still incarcerated, and has ended his participation in Absurd. 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.

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jellypages.com/breaking/German-nazi-musician-confirms-I-was-assaulted-in-Copenhagen-h65708.html|title=German nazi-musician confirms: I was assaulted in Copenhagen News|website=Jellypages.com|access-date=6 October 2020}}</ref>


== Band history since 1999 ==
== 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 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|date=April 2022}} 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".
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 vocal part on releases such as ''Asgardsrei'' (1999), ''Werwolfthron'' (2001), ''Totenlieder'' (2003), and ''Blutgericht'' (2005). Because the band line-up and musical style has changed drastically, many people consider anything that was released after ''Werwolfthron'' to be an entirely different band.


== Band members ==
This new lineup released a [[Best-of]]-album in March 2008 called "Der fünfzehnjährige Krieg" ("The fifteen-years-war"). The album contains re-recorded tracks from almost every release between 1992 and 2002. The title of the album refers to the 15 years between 1992 and 2007, the year the songs were recorded.


;Unhold's Absurd
== Music style ==
*Unhold (Sven Zimper) – bass, drums, guitar, vocals (1999–2012, 2019–)
The demos and the first album “[[Facta Loquuntur]]” have strong [[Oi!]] and [[Rock Against Communism]] (RAC) influences.<ref name="triath">Hendrik Möbus in a dialogue with Michael Moynihan</ref> Musical idols were bands like [[Mercyful Fate]], [[Manowar]], [[Danzig (band)|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<ref>Billerbeck, Liane von; Nordhausen, Frank: ''Satanskinder. Der Mordfall von Sondershausen und die rechte Szene''. 3. revised edition, Berlin 2001, p. 158.</ref> [[Michael Moynihan (journalist)|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.<ref>Christian Dornbusch, Hans-Peter Killguss: Unheilige Allianzen. Black Metal zwischen Satanismus, Heidentum und Neonazismus', p. 52</ref> 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.<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20080120224719/http://www.mansionofmetal.com/Reviews/?mode=alpha “Thuringian Pagan Madness” review]</ref> The music on the first album was classified as a mix of Oi! and black metal.<ref>http://www.anus.com/metal/absurd/</ref>
*Gelal (Alexander Halac) – guitar (2019–)


;JFN's Absurd
Hendrik Möbus called the “[[Asgardsrei]]” EP the band’s first wholistic 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.<ref name="sheolmag">[http://de.geocities.com/damned_child_666/Interviews/absurd.htm Interview by Sheol-Mag]</ref>
*JFN (Hendrik Möbus) – drums (1992–1994, 1998–1999) vocals (2017–)
*Widar (Markus Hartmann) - guitar (2020–)
*Leichenaar - bass (2020–)
*KPS - drums (2020–)


== Past members ==
“[[Werwolfthron]]” was the first metal release of the band, but also contained calmer songs and medieval music. The following albums are [[pagan metal]], the vocals being mostly guttural with some clear parts.
*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 ==
The demos and the first album ''[[Facta Loquuntur]]'' have strong [[Oi!]] and [[Rock Against Communism]] (RAC) influences.<ref name=loc250f>Michael Moynihan, Didrik Søderlind: ''Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground''. Feral House 1998, p. 250ff.</ref> Their musical idols were bands like [[Mercyful Fate]]/[[King Diamond (band)|King Diamond]],<ref name=loc250f/> [[Manowar]],<ref name=loc250f/><ref name="derfünfzehnjährigekrieg">"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 [[Horror punk|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.</ref> [[Danzig (band)|Danzig]]<ref name=loc250f/><ref name="derfünfzehnjährigekrieg"/> and especially [[Der Fluch]],<ref name=loc250f/><ref name="derfünfzehnjährigekrieg"/> 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.<ref name=loc250f/><ref name="derfünfzehnjährigekrieg"/> 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.<ref>Billerbeck, Liane von; Nordhausen, Frank: ''Satanskinder. Der Mordfall von Sondershausen und die rechte Szene''. 3. revised edition, Berlin 2001, p. 158.</ref> {{Better source needed|date=May 2021}} [[Michael Moynihan (journalist)|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",<ref>Michael Moynihan, Didrik Søderlind: ''Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground''. Feral House 1998, p. 260ff.</ref> 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.<ref name="unheilig">Christian Dornbusch, Hans-Peter Killguss: ''Unheilige Allianzen''. ''Black Metal zwischen Satanismus, Heidentum und Neonazismus'', p. 52.</ref> 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").<ref>''[[Sub Line]]'', no. 3, march 1993, p. 53.</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|date=20 January 2008|title=Wayback machine|url=http://www.mansionofmetal.com/Reviews/?mode=alpha|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120224719/http://www.mansionofmetal.com/Reviews/?mode=alpha|archive-date=20 January 2008}}</ref>

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.<ref name="sheolmag">{{cite web|title=Interview by Sheol-Mag |url=http://de.geocities.com/damned_child_666/Interviews/absurd.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091018191823/http://de.geocities.com/damned_child_666/Interviews/absurd.htm |archive-date=18 October 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>


== Discography ==
== Discography ==
=== Studio albums ===
* ''[[Facta Loquuntur]]''
* ''[[Werwolfthron]]''
* ''[[Totenlieder]]''
* ''[[Blutgericht (album)|Blutgericht]]''
* ''[[Der fünfzehnjährige Krieg]]'' ([[Best-of]])


=== EPs ===
=== Demos ===
* ''[[Asgardsrei]]''
* ''Eternal Winter'' (1992)
* ''God's Death'' (1992)
* ''[[Raubritter (EP)|Raubritter]]''
* ''Death from the Forest'' (1993)
* ''[[Grimmige Volksmusik]]''
* ''Sadness'' (1993)
* ''Out of the Dungeon'' (1994)
* ''Ubungsraum'' (1994)
* ''Thuringian Pagan Madness'' (1995)
* ''Sonnenritter'' (1999)


== External links ==
=== Albums ===
* ''Facta Loquuntur'' ([[No Colours Records|No Colours]], 1996)
* [http://www.hordeabsurd.com/ Absurd official website] (German/English)
* ''Werwolfthron'' (Nebelfee Klangwerke, 2001)
* [http://www.vampire-magazine.com/article.php?aid=38877/ Vampire Magazine] - Interview with Schauseil
* ''Totenlieder'' (Nebelfee Klangwerke / World Terror Committee, 2003)
* [http://www.mourningtheancient.com/mobus.htm Mourning the Ancient] - Interview with Hendrik (2001)
* ''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)


== References ==
=== 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 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==
<references/>
*[[National Socialist black metal]]
"ABSURD." Thepaganfront.com. 6 Nov. 2006. 15 Feb. 2008 <http://www.thepaganfront.com/absurd/>.
*[[Asgardsrei festival]]


==References==
[[Category:German musical groups]]
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|http://www.hordeabsurd.com/}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Absurd}}
[[Category:German black metal musical groups]]
[[Category:German black metal musical groups]]
[[Category:National Socialist black metal musical groups]]
[[Category:National Socialist black metal musical groups]]
[[Category:Neo-Nazi musical groups]]
[[Category:Neo-Nazism in Germany]]
[[Category:Musical groups established in 1992]]
[[Category:Musical groups established in 1992]]
[[Category:Murder committed by minors]]
[[Category:Minors convicted of murder]]
[[Category:Crimes involving Satanism or the occult]]
[[Category:Modern pagan musical groups]]
[[Category:Obscenity controversies in music]]

[[Category:Musicians from Thuringia]]
[[de:Absurd (Band)]]
[[es:Absurd]]
[[fr:Absurd]]
[[it:Absurd]]
[[lt:Absurd]]
[[nl:Absurd (band)]]
[[no:Absurd]]
[[pl:Absurd (niemiecka grupa muzyczna)]]
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[[sv:Absurd]]

Latest revision as of 22:21, 10 September 2024

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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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

[edit]
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

[edit]
  • 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

[edit]

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

[edit]

Demos

[edit]
  • 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

[edit]
  • 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

[edit]
  • 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

[edit]

References

[edit]
  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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