Interview and Text: Saro Lo Bue
For over 25 years, Bülent Ceylan has been one of Germany’s most beloved entertainers, filling stadiums with laughter and earning a reputation as one of the country’s warmest and most authentic comedians. But sit down with him long enough and something else emerges, a metalhead who never stopped being one, even when life pulled him in a different direction. With his second studio album “B.L.N.T.” arriving September 11 via Napalm Records, Bülent is no longer asking permission to be taken seriously as a musician. He’s simply doing it.
Born to a Turkish father and a German mother in Mannheim, Bülent grew up straddling two cultures, and metal became the thread that tied his identity together long before comedy ever entered the picture. He had already been playing in a rock band before his comedy career took off, but the band dissolved the way many do, people going their separate ways. “Metal rock music was always a part of my life before I became a comedian,” he explains. “I had a rock band, but then everyone goes their separate ways, that’s how it goes sometimes. And I always had the metal rock music in me.” Comedy filled the void, but the passion never left. He still found ways to bring rock energy into his live shows, even if only in small doses, aware that comedy audiences tend to lean toward pop and folk rather than metal. “They accept my image as a metal-loving comedian,” he says, “but only up to a point.”
The turning point came unexpectedly, on a masked singing competition on German television where celebrities perform in elaborate costumes while audiences guess their identity. Bülent appeared disguised as an angel and chose to perform ‘System of a Down’s “Chop Suey!” and Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name” live on national television. He expected to be eliminated in the first round. Instead, he made it to the final. “They let me really sing rock songs on live television, and I kept going all the way to the final,” he recalls, still visibly amused by it. “I only did it for fun. I thought, after the first round they’ll kick me off. But no.” The response from the public was immediate. “Everyone said after that, you have to make a real album. Not a comedy record, a real metal album.” That encouragement led to his debut “Ich liebe Menschen” (“I Love Humans”) in 2024. But it is the second album, arriving now, that has shifted perceptions entirely. “Now people say, okay, he really means it. He wasn’t just doing a project. He’s making a second album.”
“B.L.N.T.” was built in collaboration with Christian Neander, Martin Fliegenschmidt, and Henning Verlage, resulting in twelve tracks that reflect Bülent’s multi-faceted nature, balancing tongue-in-cheek humor with genuine social commentary. He doesn’t hold back on subject matter. “In German, I put more critical content in the lyrics than I do in my comedy shows,” he explains. “Against dictators, against racism, against the idiots of this world.” The industrial-leaning lead single “Diktatürk,” which shares its name with his current comedy show, delivers raw metal energy alongside razor-sharp lyrics that take a clear stand. Album opener “Stumpf ist Trumpf” (“Simple is Best”) leans into a switch-off-your-brain attitude, while “Fünf vor Zwölf” (“Five to Twelve”) confronts urgency before time runs out. Closer “Am Ende gut” (“Everything’s Fine in the End”) advocates openness, tolerance, and never giving up hope regardless of how strong the resistance gets. “Lange Haare” (“Long Hair”) and “Leck mich Tag” (“Screw You Day”) round out the more direct and unapologetic side of the record.
B.L.N.T. Tracklist:
1 Stumpf ist Trumpf
2 Fünf vor Zwölf
3 Wir haben gelebt
4 Wolfsherz
5 Keiner kommt hier lebend raus
6 Habt euch endlich alle lieb
7 Lange Haare
8 Randale und Radau
9 Ein Hoch auf die beschissenen Zeiten
10 Leck mich Tag
11 Diktatürk
12 Am Ende gut
Two ballads slow the album’s pace without losing its intensity. “Wir haben gelebt” (“We Have Lived”) invites reflection on identity and legacy, asking who someone was and what they leave behind. “Wolfsherz” (“Wolf’s Heart”) stands out as one of the record’s most emotional moments, featuring the Heavy Metal Queen herself, ‘Doro Pesch‘, whose smoky yet sensitive voice guarantees absolute goosebumps. Elsewhere, “Randale und Radau” (“Riot and Rampage”) shifts gears entirely, bringing in Michael Rhein, frontman of German medieval rock outfit ‘In Extremo‘, for a track built to let loose completely.
Language has never been a barrier for Bülent, and he’s adamant about keeping his lyrics in German rather than chasing broader accessibility through English. He recalls a conversation with an Australian metal journalist that reinforced this conviction. “He told me, when I read the translation I understand what you’re talking about, but that wasn’t even the most important thing for me. He said the German language itself works like an instrument. It sounds authentic, it sounds European. And he told me, please never switch to English in the metal. Stay with German.” That exchange stuck with him, especially given how differently international audiences perceive him compared to his home country. “In Germany, people always have that category in their head. Isn’t he a comedian? Now he’s singing? But from outside the country, they have no prejudice. What they hear first is the musician, not the comedian. And that is very motivating for me.”
That international recognition matters deeply to him, not out of vanity, but because it validates a passion he has carried since childhood. “When I get interviews from other countries, I go home and my wife asks me why I’m floating around the house,” he laughs. “I feel like an international rock star. It’s not arrogance, it’s more like a child who is happy because his dream is getting a little bit closer.” He is equally candid about the financial reality. Music, unlike his comedy career, is currently an investment rather than an income. “With the music right now, it’s more like an investment. But there are people who say, I’m not doing that, what if it doesn’t work out? And I say, okay, maybe it doesn’t work. But at least I’m doing what I want to do.” For him, the alternative, making music purely for commercial reasons, is its own quiet tragedy. “I think if you do music only for money, you get really unhappy and depressed inside. I know artists who make very mainstream music and they’re not really happy. They do it because they have to live from it. But that’s sad.”
Live, Bülent has already proven he belongs on metal’s biggest stages. He opened Wacken Open Air in 2024 without a single radio hit behind him, walking out in front of 80,000 people and winning them over. “They asked me to do it, and I said, okay, let’s do it. 80,000 people, and we rocked them,” he recalls. He has also performed at Summer Breeze, the ‘Scorpions‘ anniversary concert, and Metal Holidays, and hosted the German Metal Hammer Awards in 2024. Signing with Napalm Records in September 2025 marked a turning point, not because of overnight success, but because of the label’s patience. “The label chief told me, we know you as a comedian, yes. But I see you as a musician. It doesn’t happen from one day to the next that metalheads will say, okay, he’s one of us, let’s go to his concert. It takes time. You need patience,” Bülent recalls. “And it was really nice to hear that from someone who also has to think about money. He believes in something, and he’s willing to work on it for the long term. In times when everything has to be successful immediately, that means a lot.”
Family remains central to why he does all of this. Bülent has four children who tease him about the physical toll of headbanging as he gets older. “They ask me, Baba, why are you doing this? You’re getting older, you’ll get more pain. And I say, yes, that’s right, because your father is an idiot who loves to do it,” he says with clear affection. Rather than discouraging him, his kids see it as inspiration. “They’re proud because they say, Papa, it’s good that you show us how to follow your dreams.” That philosophy extends to how he frames success itself. “The journey is the success. The learning, the experience, maybe a door opens along the way. It’s not always about having 20,000 people in front of you. Sometimes it’s 500. That’s already something beautiful.”
Following the release of “B.L.N.T.”, Bülent heads out on a club tour with his band beginning September 22, starting with select cities across Germany. He is also set to perform aboard Full Metal Cruise, a bucket list milestone he speaks about with genuine excitement. Looking beyond, his ambitions stretch past German borders entirely. “My dream is to play in countries where people don’t speak German. Not just across the border, but really abroad. Even if it’s not the main stage, even if it’s the car park of a festival in South America, I just want to be able to say I played there with my band.”
For Bülent, metal has always represented something deeper than music, a community built on authenticity rather than appearance. “I love festivals because it feels like a big family. Long hair, tattoos, no tattoos, it doesn’t matter what you look like or where you come from. As long as you’re a decent person, you belong. This is our filter. This is our therapy,” he reflects. He only half jokes when he says politicians should attend metal festivals, not to campaign but to observe how people treat each other when judgment is left at the gate. With “B.L.N.T.”, that philosophy takes center stage. Twelve tracks of humor, social conscience, and a comedian’s heart beating inside a metalhead’s chest. Bülent Ceylan isn’t asking to be taken seriously anymore. With this album, he already is.
“B.L.N.T.” is out September 11, 2026 via Napalm Records.
