Der Dunkle Parabelritter

Der Dunkle Parabelritter
Der Dunkle Parabelritter
	Der Dunkle Parabelritter in 2015
Personal information
Born	Alexander Prinz; 20 September 1994 (age 29); Halle (Saale), Germany
Occupation	YouTuber
Website	www.silence-magazin.de%20silence%20metal-magazin
YouTube information
Channel	Der Dunkle Parabelritter;
Years active	2012–present
Genre	Heavy Metal Music; Music; Vlog; Comedy; Commentary;
Subscribers	172000
Total views	44.6 million
Associated acts	Heaven Shall Burn
	Last updated: 12 June 2020

Alexander Prinz, known professionally as Der Dunkle Parabelritter (born September 20th, 1994 in Halle/Saale, Saxony-Anhalt) is a German student, radio presenter, internet video producer and entrepreneur as well as the founder of the fairtrade textile label Von Tiling and an online music magazine named “Silence Metal-Magazin”. Originally he comes from Nemsdorf(Saxony-Anhalt), he lives and works in Halle (Saale).

Life

Since May 2016, Prinz and a team of friends, associates and volunteers have published a non-commercial online music magazine called “Silence Metal Magazine”.^[2] He is the chief editor of the magazine that revolves around metal, metal subculture and similar genres. The magazine publishes interviews, reviews and comments by the authors. In an interview with the|Legacy-Magazine, Prinz stated that he also thinks about a print publication of the magazine.^[3]

In December 2016, he published an app, that functioned as a news- and video blog, along with social interactive communication features. It was decommissioned by the developer in late 2019.

On April 8th, 2017, Prinz announced the start of his own clothing brand. In his video “My own label”, he reveals the brand “Von Tiling” which he created together with his business associate Jörg Rohrberg. Under this label, fair trade clothing with different motives is sold. ^[4] The label also produces and sells merchandise clothing for some metal- and folk-bands exclusively.

On the last weekend of June 2019, the “Sternenklang-Festival” which was organized by Prinz was held on the Niederburg castle in Kranichfeld (Thüringen). ^[5]^[6] ^[7] At this festival, Corvus Corax, Haggard, Mr. Hurley & die Pulveraffen and Vogelfrey performed among other artists. The festival was planned to take place for a second time at this location in June, 2020 ^[8] but had to be postponed until 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.^[9]^[10]

In March 2020 he launched a podcast with Maik Waichert, the guitarist of the band Heaven Shall Burn.^[11]

Biography

Alexander Prinz went to the high school Gymnasium Querfurt and finished it as the best among the graduates. In 2012, he founded the Youtube channel “Der Dunkle Parabelritter” where at first he uploaded short- and comedy clips. Over the years, he decided to change the focus of his channel to the subgenre Heavy Metal because of his love for this genre of music. He has become especially popular due to coverages of music festivals such as Wacken and Ragnarök. Between 2013 and the end of 2018, he studied German and Geography for the teaching profession at the university Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg which is why some of his videos deal with the topic of the German education system. ^[12] In 2014, he founded the second Youtube channel which – after a redirection in 2016 - now treats topics such as mysteries, legends and curiosities from all around the world.

Youtube and Journalist career

His main fame in metal and youth culture comes from looking at phenomena concerning metal culture, growing up as a member of metal culture and problems that come with visibly belonging to this fringe. He also addresses common issues connected to coming of age such as love, recognition and commitment. He speaks about these important issues in his videos and also comments on his viewers' questions. He also asks his viewers questions and includes them in the production process and even created an app, solely for this purpose.

"Der Dunkle Parabelritter" has over 172.000 subscribers on youtube and his videos (roughly 700) combined have more than 44,6 million views (June 2020).

His yearly coverages of the famous Wacken Festival are especially successful. His reports from the full metal cruise also gained wide respect and he was even referred to as an important personality of metal culture by the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.^[13]

Speaker career

Since 2017, he additionally acts as a speaker in the areas of Neue Medien, (digital) marketing and Medienpädagogik throughout Germany. He visited, among others, the “Transforming Media 2017” ^[14] in Nuremberg, the “Medientage” ^[15] in Munich and the “Fachtagung Medien SOS Kinderdörfer” ^[16] ^[17]. Moreover, he performs as a guest speaker at online conferences such as the “Metalheart 2017".^[18]

Characteristics

As occasionally mentioned in his videos, Prinz suffers from Morbus Coats, a rare degenerative eye disease accompanied by visible enlargements and modifications (Teleangiektasie) of the retinal vessels. Roughly 1 to 9 out of 100 000 people develop the disease. He has been wearing a glass eye for cosmetic reasons since the end of 2012.

With roughly 172 000 subscribers, his Youtube channel ranks as the largest of Saxony-Anhalt ^[19] and the German metal scene ^[20] and is able to register more than 44 million video views due to its unique feature. His videos have also gained attention across the borders of Germany ^[21]. He is an invited guest at various relevant events. Regarding interviews of media companies, he often acts as a representative of the young generation listening to metal music.^[22] ^[23] ^[24] ^[25]

Trivia

The name "Der dunkle Parabelritter" hints at an event of his school days in which he misued a pointer as a Schwert and a Parabelschablone as a Schild while playing Ritter in a free hour.^[12]