Empyrium (DE)

About

Empyrium have always been driven by a deep connection to nature, and that obsession runs through every phase of their career. Founded in 1994 in Hendungen, Germany by Markus Stock (performing as Ulf Theodor Schwadorf) and Andreas Bach, they started out crafting doom metal draped in folk and symphonic textures, combining harsh and operatic male vocals with slow, heavy guitar work. Their first two albums, A Wintersunset and Songs of Moors and Misty Fields, established that brooding sound. Over time they drifted away from metal entirely, swapping keyboards for acoustic guitars, violins, cellos and flute, and leaning into neofolk and dark folk territory. After their 2002 album Weiland they went quiet for years, but the reunion came in 2010 and eventually produced The Turn of the Tides and, more recently, Über den Sternen in 2021. They sit comfortably alongside names like Ulver and Orplid in the darker, more atmospheric end of European folk music.