Die Urkatastrophe

Ah, another album about the Great War. How original. The artwork teaches us that the Reich wanted to kill each and every foe. Of course it refers to the Western Front, Verdun and the other places where so many young men died a “patriotic” and completely senseless death. The Germans played their part in this in the person of Erich von Falkenhayn and others, but so did the Western Allies, if I'm not mistaken. On a side note, before Germany declared mobilisation, the Russians and the French (albeit only just an hour ahead of the Germans) were already on their way to the future battlefields. The cover of “Die Urkatastrophe” ignores this, but okay, it’s just art and does not need to be historically true.

Lyric-wise, Kanonenfieber also focus on the German side. Maybe they want to show the Teutonic attitude, this suicidal fascination for war which dominated at the first days of the war. Now they are historically correct, but this misguided mindset was no German phenomenon as well. So let’s come to the music. Kanonenfieber play a kind of industrial black metal with wannabe catchy choruses (“Der Maulwurf”) and I promise you, I have rarely heard more boring and meaningless black (death) metal. Maybe the industrial approach is a good match with the historical fact that World War I was the first mechanized, completely dehumanised war in the history of mankind. If this was the intention, it makes sense, but this does not mean that Kanonenfieber’s style awakens even the slightest emotions in me. The computerized hammering of the quasi-opener “Menschenmühle” just sucks and the thought “black metal without atmosphere is no black metal at all” comes to my mind. (And I also don’t think that the album really dishes up death metal – if this is the case, it is far away from my Bolt Thrower / Grave / Vomitory understanding of this style.) The guitar lines are just as pathetic. Fortunately, a few exceptions confirm the norm. “Lviv to Lemberg” is a track which surprises with lively and coherent guitar work. Anyway, the song is too long, its silent break makes the track’s intensity implode. “Gott mit der Kavallarie” presents a promising guitar line at the beginning, a really good one and perhaps the best of the entire album. The fanfare-like chorus is based on it, that’s cool, but once again the slower part in the middle of the song devalues the number to a certain degree.

In terms of sound quality, you can represent every opinion. For example this one: oh, it’s so powerful, so clear, violent and heavy. A legitimate point of view, doubtlessly. But I just feel attacked by soulless sterility. Especially the voice lacks authenticity and charisma, in particular during the first songs. As the album progresses, things get slightly better or I just get used to it, who knows. One thing is for sure, these sometimes death metal affine Eisregen-vocals-for-beginners which meet Rammstein-on-extreme-metal may have their appeal for some. I beg your pardon, I just find it infantile and seeking for cheap shock effects. And I have another problem with the full-length: the longer it lasts, the more monotony gains the upper hand. Despite a few good moments, individuality is not the most striking feature of the single songs, to say it politely. The album would have benefited from a length of 40 minutes, because for the meagre amount of variety that the formation offers, the disc is about 10 minutes too long. But maybe monotony is a good thing here, because the worst track is the totally different non-metal closer that wants to be emotional. Too bad, it is just useless and its German lyrics remain superficial and weak.

Summing up, World War I is a very interesting topic. It surely makes sense to read Clark’s “The Sleepwalkers” or McMeekin’s “July 1914. Countdown to War”. I could recommend more books, but due to the fact that this is a music-related archive, another recommendation is Minenwerfer’s “Feuerwalze”. I know, their mix of historical samples and extreme music is not too far away from “Die Urkatastrophe” (at least the album’s name hits the mark), but simply better. Not to mention the title track of Saxon’s “Call to Arms”. This is really a song that pays a worthy tribute to the soldiers of both sides who died for nothing.