Letzte Instanz

Letzte Instanz
Letzte Instanz performing on a festival in 2010
Background information
Origin	Dresden, Germany
Genres	Medieval metal, gothic metal, folk metal, alternative metal, Neue Deutsche Härte, progressive metal, symphonic metal
Years active	1996–present
Website	http://www.letzte-instanz.de
Members	Holly (since 2004) M. Stolz Benni Cellini (since 1997) Oli (since 2002) Michael Ende (since 2004) Andy Horst (since 2015)
Past members	Hörbi (until 1997) Tin Whistle (until 2004) Kaspar Wichman (until 1999) Markus G-Punkt (until 2001) Holly D. (until 2014) Robin Sohn (1997-2004) Rasta F. (1999 - 2001) FX (2001-2004)*Specki T.D. (2001-2009) David Paetsch (2010-2015)
Notable instruments
Violin, cello

Letzte Instanz, founded in Dresden, Germany in 1996, is a German metal band particularly noted for their use of the violin and cello. The founding members included Hörbi, Tin Whistle, Muttis Stolz, Kaspar Wichman, Holly D. and Markus G-Punkt. Benni Cellini and Robin Sohn entered the group a year later. To date, they have released eleven studio albums, two live albums, two live DVDs, three singles and have appeared on a number of mix CDs.

When the band's first album, Brachialromantik (Brute Romance) was released, they earned swift comparisons to the giants of the popular German medieval metal genre like Subway to Sally and Tanzwut, despite objections from the band that this was not an accurate expression of their sound or style. Shortly before the album's release, the singer Hörbi left the band to pursue other projects, and the band was left unsure of themselves and faltering with the public taking little interest in their record.

Enter Robin Sohn and a new era for the band. With sharp, complex German lyrics, the new singer arrived and helped shape a new sound. The result was the critically acclaimed Das Spiel (The Game), a stark departure from the sound of their previous effort. The strings were drawn more into the background and the focus shifted to the conventional band instruments, making room also for electronics. Also, two of the new songs ("Das Ist Der Tag"/"That is the Day", "Das Spiel") let Robin take a break from the microphone and introduced background vocalist Holly D's rap stylings. This album also demonstrates Robin's linguistic versatility, featuring a remake of Camouflage's "Love is a Shield." Shortly after the release, Kaspar departed the band, and the introduction of Rasta F. marked the first in a series of changes in the bass player position.

With their third album, 2001's Kalter Glanz, Letzte Instanz showed their fans and critics that trying to classify their music was a fruitless endeavor, yet again introducing a record with a sound different from either of its predecessors. The strings were pulled slightly more into the background, and the sound had begun to mature as a kind of string-assisted form of modern heavy metal in songs like "Ganz oder gar nicht"/"Completely or not at all" and the title track, and with a continued dedication to their folk music roots in songs like "Oh Fortuna" and "Mein Todestag"/"My dying day." The result is a powerful combination of musical genres, occurring both integrated and drawn into sections, but never completely pulled from one another. Also appearing on the album were two well-known German singers: Marta Jandová from Die Happy and Sven Friedrich from Dreadful Shadows accompanied the septet on 3 songs.