HISTORY
DON´T MESS WITH MESSERSCHMITT
In the year 2010, guitarist Maik Jegszenties and drummer Kristian Tamm founded MESSERSCHMITT in Remscheid, Germany. Having played in various bands previously, Maik sought to realize his own vision of Speed Metal as a musical blend incorporating the relentlessness of German thrash and speed pioneers as well as melodic elements known in US American heavy and speed metal. The name MESSERSCHMITT came to mind as a spontaneous idea, paying homage to the speed and aggressiveness that was bound to be the leading musical characteristics of the band. The duo found bass player Daniel Ohliger as their partner in crime and soon enough the first live concerts and recording of „Demo‘lition“ were in store for 2011.
Later that year, Daniel left the band and was replaced by Florian Piwek, who used to play together with Maik in a former band and additionally functioned as a helping hand during the production of „Demo‘lition“. One year and several national and international shows later, MESSERSCHMITT released their second demo, „Speed Demo‘n“, in late 2012. Just like their first demo, „Speed Demo‘n“ displayed the brand of attacking-yet-melodic Old School Speed Metal MESSERSCHMITT was all about to the public. Both demo productions were made available as a package in 2013 on MESSERSCHMITT‘s first 12“ vinyl release. More concerts and festivals were played in order to suppord this record.
Sometime during 2013, the power trio toyed with the idea of expanding their lineup by adding a second guitarist, in order to give the live audience a broader guitar sound spectrum. As a result, Thorben Schulz of REZET served as stand-in guitarist for several shows before the decision was made to indeed acquire another guitarist permanently. After loosely being on the look for a new player throughout 2013, the band joined forces with Christian Fass in winter.
After a few months of preparation as a four-piece, the band toured Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium in the summer of 2014. As the final stahes of tapes, CD‘s and LP‘s were being sold, the time had come for MESSERSCHMITT to hit the studio for their debut album. Most of the songs were already written and furthermore tweaked and perfected during extended rehearsal sessions and concerts. Two new songs were additionally written and „No Dread To Kill“ saw the light of day on August 3rd, 2015.
Some months before the release of the album, MESSERSCHMITT were forced out of their accustomed rehearsal space because of renovations to meet the city‘s fire protection demands, which sparked a series of ill-fated moves to several rehearsal rooms. Since MESSERSCHMITT prides itself on meticulously putting new song ideas and parts under the test in as many rehearsal situations as possible, this organizational chaos added a good couple of years to get most of the writing and rehearsing done. Amid further gigs with great bands such as FLOTSAM & JETSAM, ACCUSER, SPACE CHASER, KETZER, DIAMOND HEAD, EXHORDER, KATAKLYSM and many more, the band inched closer to completing their sophomore album.
Finally, in the end of 2019, the band had all the material rehearsed and entered the studio to record their second album, „Consumed by Fire“, which was released in May 2020.
In the year 2010, guitarist Maik Jegszenties and drummer Kristian Tamm founded MESSERSCHMITT in Remscheid, Germany. Having played in various bands previously, Maik sought to realize his own vision of Speed Metal as a musical blend incorporating the relentlessness of German thrash and speed pioneers as well as melodic elements known in US American heavy and speed metal. The name MESSERSCHMITT came to mind as a spontaneous idea, paying homage to the speed and aggressiveness that was bound to be the leading musical characteristics of the band. The duo found bass player Daniel Ohliger as their partner in crime and soon enough the first live concerts and recording of „Demo‘lition“ were in store for 2011.
Later that year, Daniel left the band and was replaced by Florian Piwek, who used to play together with Maik in a former band and additionally functioned as a helping hand during the production of „Demo‘lition“. One year and several national and international shows later, MESSERSCHMITT released their second demo, „Speed Demo‘n“, in late 2012. Just like their first demo, „Speed Demo‘n“ displayed the brand of attacking-yet-melodic Old School Speed Metal MESSERSCHMITT was all about to the public. Both demo productions were made available as a package in 2013 on MESSERSCHMITT‘s first 12“ vinyl release. More concerts and festivals were played in order to suppord this record.
Sometime during 2013, the power trio toyed with the idea of expanding their lineup by adding a second guitarist, in order to give the live audience a broader guitar sound spectrum. As a result, Thorben Schulz of REZET served as stand-in guitarist for several shows before the decision was made to indeed acquire another guitarist permanently. After loosely being on the look for a new player throughout 2013, the band joined forces with Christian Fass in winter.
After a few months of preparation as a four-piece, the band toured Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium in the summer of 2014. As the final stahes of tapes, CD‘s and LP‘s were being sold, the time had come for MESSERSCHMITT to hit the studio for their debut album. Most of the songs were already written and furthermore tweaked and perfected during extended rehearsal sessions and concerts. Two new songs were additionally written and „No Dread To Kill“ saw the light of day on August 3rd, 2015.
Some months before the release of the album, MESSERSCHMITT were forced out of their accustomed rehearsal space because of renovations to meet the city‘s fire protection demands, which sparked a series of ill-fated moves to several rehearsal rooms. Since MESSERSCHMITT prides itself on meticulously putting new song ideas and parts under the test in as many rehearsal situations as possible, this organizational chaos added a good couple of years to get most of the writing and rehearsing done. Amid further gigs with great bands such as FLOTSAM & JETSAM, ACCUSER, SPACE CHASER, KETZER, DIAMOND HEAD, EXHORDER, KATAKLYSM and many more, the band inched closer to completing their sophomore album.
Finally, in the end of 2019, the band had all the material rehearsed and entered the studio to record their second album, „Consumed by Fire“, which was released in May 2020.