Dies Irae-First (1971)

Dies Irae was a German band formed in 1968 that built a strong reputation through their wild concerts throughout southern Germany and countries like Switzerland and France in the late 1960s and early 1970s, until the prestigious German label PILZ offered them a contract and released their first and only album in 1971. Their lineup consisted of Rainer Wahlman on lead vocals and harmonica, Harald Thoma on guitar and vocals, Joachim Shiff on bass, and Andreas Cornelius on drums. Dies Irae's style was a strange mix of progressive and psychedelic heavy metal with strong influences from dark, heavy blues. Their only album, "First", is a hallucinogenic musical journey with a heavy emphasis on acid guitars and trance-like states, a result of the band members' LSD use. This debut album contained some truly interesting moments, such as the opening heavy rock track "Lucifer", the psychedelic jam "Witches Meeting", the intense heavy rock of "Another Room", and the acid rock of "Trip". After its release, the band gained considerable notoriety, even though most German radio stations refused to play the record due to its connotations of drug use and its links to religious rituals. However, a music video was broadcast on a German television network, providing them with enough publicity to achieve underground and cult status a connotation that persists to this day.