Die Urkatastrophe

When I saw the magnificent cover art by Daniel Bechthold, in the style of Biró Mihály (1886 - 1948), considered as the founder of political poster art, I was immediately intrigued. The artwork depicts a German general putting people in a meat-grinder, which is fundamentally what war is, using normal people to advance whatever goals and ambitions of the few in power. In the case of WW1, the unquenchable thirst of capital owners for never-ending increasing profit. Some Russian dude wrote a good book about that! Anyway, bands that use war as its main source of inspiration can be overly cheesy and just end up glorifying it. Although there is quite a bit of cheese all over this album (in the form of earworm melodies), thankfully Kanonenfieber is not one of those bands!

Kanonenfieber is but one of the many projects of multi-instrumentalist, Noise and it’s one of his more “accessible” projects, blending black and death but, in their more melodic forms. The melodies on Die Urkatastrophe will take you on a journey, through a wide range of emotions, all surrounding heartbreaking stories of war and its devastating effects. So, if you’re still wondering, no, it absolutely does not glorify war, it’s more of a warning. Thankfully our leaders are following the important lessons of history… At least Kanonenfieber understands! Their bancamp page sums it well: “As with its predecessor, KANONENFIEBER’s second album “Die Urkatastrophe” is based on factual reports, letters and original documents from the surviving and deceased soldiers from the First World War. Its intent is not to glorify, because there is no glory in war. Everyone loses –their lives, their souls, their humanity. This album is intended to commemorate the countless victims of WWI. War is often depicted in an abstract way, through numbers and statistics.”

Back to the music, there is a mournful beauty about the melodies Noise is crafting. Even if I do not speak any German, the music makes you understand, it’s full of images. On Lviv zu Lemberg, the main melody is both epic and conveys pure sadness, so I know it must be a heroic tale about a battle won but incredibly costly, where many souls where lost. The chorus of Der Maulwurf is a pure sing along earworm, reminding me of those songs miners used to sing while going to work, at least, in movies. On Panzerhenker, there is huge and loud chugs that sounds like cannon fire, which makes sense because the song is talking about a battle in which tanks were heavily used. Also, the song title translates to tank slayer, so everything makes sense. Ausblutungsschlacht is about the longest and costliest battle in human history. It’s a slower song, full of atmosphere, heaviness and that epic sadness so characteristic of Kanonenfieber, ending with a soft piano. The album ends with a soft acoustic guitar folk song, filled with sadness but also hope, as the war finally ends.

The album sounds phenomenal, with the production sounding huge and clean, with every instruments perfectly balanced in the mix. This album is a great discovery, for fans of melodic and blackened death metal, it’s yet another band added to my list of bands I need to see live!