Guano Apes

The Göttingen band brought Nasic together with guitarist Henning Rümenapp, bassist Stefan Ude and drummer Dennis Poschwatta. Proud Like a God appeared in 1997, putting Open Your Eyes, Rain and Lords of the Boards into the same debut. The music drew on heavy alternative rock without losing the rhythmic bounce that made the songs effective beyond a purely metal audience.

Nasic was central to the identity, but the arrangements depended on more than the contrast between quiet singing and a scream. Bass and drums often gave a riff its sense of movement, while the guitar could shift from a clipped figure to a much larger sound. The tracks were concise enough for an immediate chorus to remain visible inside the force of the performance.

Don't Give Me Names followed in 2000. Big in Japan recast the Alphaville song in the band's heavier vocabulary, using the recognisable melody as material for a substantially different performance. No Speech and other originals made clear that the group's energy did not depend only on the surprise of that cover version.

Walking on a Thin Line arrived in 2003, including You Can't Stop Me and Pretty in Scarlet. The latter gave the melodic side of the writing a particularly clear setting, with Nasic able to sustain tension without remaining at maximum volume. Across the first three albums, the band learned how to vary the pressure while preserving the immediate physical character of the debut.