Orkus is a monthly German music and culturemagazine published by the Zoomia Media Group. Despite its subtitle ("Gothic - romantic - industrial - electro") and its web tagline ("Das Magazin fur Dark Rock-Electro-Gothic Rock-Dark Metal & More"[1]), it includes all popular music genres includingmetal,medieval rock,Neue Deutsche Härte,alternative rock, electro andfuturepop. Thegothic rock,dark wave andindustrial music genres have had only a minor presence since the late 1990s.
The magazine was established in 1995 by Claus Müller and was released for free in A5 format. The focus was initially onnew wave, gothic rock, electro, and industrial music.[2] With the third edition in May 1996, the magazine was published for a fee and in A4 format. Since 1997, the focus has shifted increasingly toheavy metal. However, other genres such asGoa trance,intelligent dance music,ambient,drum and bass, andtechno, are represented in the magazine.
Each month has a goth-related cover, often featuring a semi-nude female model.[3]
It is generally considered one of the top three music magazines in Germany, along withZillo andSonic Seducer.[2][4][5]
Orkus is the official sponsor of theAmphi Festival and releases DVDs of the event in their issues at the end of the year.[6]
In addition to interviews, concert reports, short portraits, and reviews, particularly fromdeath metal, dark metal, andblack metal, there are articles unrelated to music, such as illustrated reports on cemeteries and a series on mysticism in everyday life. There are also columns by musicians (Oswald Henke, Alexander Kaschte) and pages with poems from readers.
Each issue came with a CD with new tracks and remixes from the bands featured in the magazine until March 2020.
Its compilation CDOrkus Collection 2 made it to #1 on the 2002 Deutsche Alternative Charts.[7]
