Haggard于1991年成立于慕尼黑。吉它手Asis是乐队的核心，1994年发表了一张MCD，并
在Amorphis的巡回演唱会作暖场表演。在这期间，Asis一直在探讨如何加入更多的古典
元素，其结果就是他不断找来越来越多的提琴手、钢琴手、女高音以及其它古典乐器演
奏者丰富Haggard的音乐风格。到了1997年发表首张概念专辑"and thou shalt trust…
the seer"的时候，乐队已经拥有了16名正式成员，真是不厌其烦啊。这张专辑以法国著
名的预言家Michael Nostradamus（诺查丹玛斯）的生平与著作为主要内容，在音乐风格
上也显得古风盎然，钢琴、提琴等古典乐器与吉它、鼓等金属乐器错落有致，其间并无
主次之分，同时大量运用了唱诗班、圣咏、歌剧女高音等人声因素，与男声低音、念白
以及黑死唱腔结合起来，构成了非常独特的魅力，引人入胜，使人时而仿佛置身于中古
世纪的繁华市集，时而又在冷峻阴森的教堂中漫步，充满了深邃神秘的氛围感。
2000年发表的"Awaking the Centuries"是上一张专辑的延伸，此时的时间是在1546年左
右，Nostradamus的第一任妻子与孩子都去世了，这也正是Nostradamus开始撰写《诸世
纪》的时候，专辑的名字即来自于此。在本张专辑中，Haggard把它善于整合不同风格的
音乐元素的特长发挥到极致，团员已达到20人，同时还邀请了3位guest乐手、5位口白及
9人的歌剧唱诗班，真可谓宏大之极。
专辑是以改编的Rachmaninov唱诗开始，于是时光倒流，我们仿佛置身于中世纪法国那泥
泞的城镇中，紧跟着的"Pestilencia"（瘟疫）则充满了歌剧的张力，尤其是女声的嘶叫
"c\'est la peste"（这是瘟疫！）更是让人透不过气来。第三首"Heavenly Damnation"
是前卫金属网站长评为的超级爱歌，我们来听听他的评价："以强劲的弦乐、大键琴对弹
开场，紧接带出男女唱诗班大合唱，soprano的一阵拉高后，death腔也随后喷出，精彩
的弦乐、oboe、单簧管对奏，伴随强力双大鼓接续登场，death腔、声乐腔大合唱，弦乐
、长笛、oboe、大键琴、双大鼓，真的是有够美啊！"
我最喜欢的则是第6首"awaking the centuries"，开场是以小提琴与双簧管等乐器的协
奏为引子，接着转向欢快的旋律，在这美妙的奏鸣中，吉它与双大鼓悄然现身，带来一
阵震撼性的气息，似乎在预示Nostradamus眼中所看到数百年后的战火。在忧愁的女声吟
唱"Awaking the centuries"过后，一段凄美的旋律引出了Asis的黑暗唱腔，在两位女高
音的伴唱之下，旋律转向激昂，似乎在倾吐Nostradamus内心的不安--恐怖的景象不断叠
现，而那参破生死的平静则更显得无奈。
本首歌曲直接引用了大段Nostradamus《诸世纪》的原文，诸如：
"When I open my eyes
I see soldiers in the fields
Dead bodies on the ground
There are children inbetween
Explosions shock the land
And the evil shows its face
The one called Hister rises
This is the fall of grace..."
令人听后，如有阵阵寒意袭背。
总的来说，本专辑唱念俱佳，不仅充满了浓厚的古欧洲气息，氛围感十足，同时旋律优
美，编配合理，除了时间太短以外（38分钟），几乎挑不出什么毛病，无疑是张"五星级
"的专辑。

HAGGARD have been a big band for a while, who else can say to have a line-up with 17 musicians? And if that was not enough yet, master mind Asis Nasseri has invited ten more guest musicians into the studio and “Eppur Si Muove” also musically has turned out to be a big album, a damn big one even!



When you compare their 1994 MCD “Progressive“ with “Eppur Si Muove“, then the Munich based band has come a long way, a very long way, starting out as Progressive Death Metal, but now the only band that I could compare HAGGARD’s evolution with would be THERION, even though you cannot compare their sounds, still they have walked a comparable path.



“Eppur Si Muove“, Latin for “and it does move“, is based on the life of Galileo Galilei, after so far paying tribute to Nostradamus they have chosen the Italian philosopher and mathematician as topic, who had found out that Earth revolved around the sun and not the other way around, as the Catholic church said. As he was adamant about his standpoint, Galilei was tried for heresy and in the end executed. Allegedly this, “eppur si muove”, had been his last words…



Now there is a lot of bands, which incorporate medieval and classical instruments into their sound, but only very rarely they play such an important role as with HAGGARD, because just as rarely we get such a homogenous sound as with this, ehm, seventeen-tet? But seriously, befitting the epoch of Galileo, we also get a whole bunch of baroque influences and melodies, which homogenously are amalgamated with the electric guitars and Metal.



And so I reach my big problem with “Eppur Si Muove“: Every song is a class of its own, so which one should I point out? To mention them all most probably is the only chance for me. “All'Inizio È La Morte” covers all possible bases, starting out with a big choir and a lot of classical instruments, followed by acoustic guitars and rough, yet clear German vocals, before a violin together with opera vocalisation follows. Then the song sets out with symphonic Metal, big choir and some growls, the choir partly in Latin, the growls partly in English, then a very calm passage, which they build on again, clean vocals and growls, incredible!



And after the short, classical interlude “Menuetto In Fa-Minore“ we have a right-out classic with “Per Aspera Ad Astra”. Rarely I have heard classical music and heavy Metal combined this well, with incredibly variable vocals, choir, female and male solo voices, growls, plus a tremendously dynamic and variable song structure, the tension within the song is just breath taking! “Of A Might Divine”… Covering everything from very quiet to furious, including a baroque interlude, huge choirs and all, ouf, I think I have fallen for this album!



Then we have the Swedish traditional song “Herr Mannelig“, some of you might still know it from IN EXTREMO. It starts out with dark keyboards, kettledrums and soprano, incredibly intense, before the song is transported into Metal, with really heavy guitars and drums, great! On we go, “The Observer”, introduced by violin and cembalo, is more rooted in Death Metal, as the sluggish and very heavy song really steps on the pedal in the middle and from all the classical instruments the violin is put into the foreground, before the title track gives me the rest. Dramatically starting with string instruments, we have a very, very dynamic composition here, very variable, with HAGGARD firing on all creative cylinders, another true masterpiece!



The shorter version of “Herr Mannelig“ in my opinion is superfluous, but does not take away anything from this huge album, as we also get an almost fitting sound, where only the guitars at times lack a bit of power and the drums sound a bit too triggered, but overall all the instruments have their room to unfold and even though the album is gripping right away from the start, there are enough details hidden in the sound, which only surface after several listening sessions.