Saltatio Mortis

Saltatio Mortis (Latin for dance of death) is a German medieval rock band. The formation originally consisted of seven members when it was founded in 2000. The group initially performed purely as a street music band. Singer Jörg Roth (Alea der Bescheidene) and hurdy-gurdy player Gunter Kopf (Falk von Hasen-Mümmelstein) are still with the band today. The band recorded their first album Tavernakel in 2001 and signed with Napalm Records in 2002. With the albums Heptessenz (2003) and the rock album Erwachen (2004), Saltatio Mortis finally establish themselves in the medieval scene. Des Königs Henker (The King's Executioner ) from 2005 made it into the German album charts for the first time. As the band's sound develops more and more in the direction of medieval rock or folk rock and the lyrics become more political, the albums released gradually achieve better positions in the charts. Black IxI finally reached number 1 in the German album charts in 2013. The follow-up albums Zirkus Zeitgeist (also receives a gold record), Brot und Spiele (2018) and Für Immer Frei (2020) also land at the top of the German charts. In 2023, the singles "Taugenichts" and "Stop the War (Fight for Love)" (as part of Rockers United) are released. The singles "Brüder" (together with Bülent Ceylan) and "Finsterwacht" (together with Blind Guardian) followed a year later. June 2024 sees the release of Finsterwacht, Saltatio Mortis' twelfth studio album and the next number 1 album in Germany. In August 2025, the best-of album Weltenwanderer - Von Träumen und Krawall is released to mark the band's 25th anniversary. The band manages to reach number 5 in the German album charts.