Die Urkatastrophe

Mastermind Noise is at it again with in 2024 with arguably his most prestigious project Kanonenfieber. After the release of their decent debut release "Menschenmühle" and the mighty strong EP "U-Bootsmann" in 2023 the southern German multi-intstrumentalist is back with another full length release in "Die Urkatastrophe". Yes, I had a lot anticipation for this album since I know how direct and uncompromising the songwriting and lyrical layout of Noise plays out. However I always found Kanonenfieber to shine more on the live stage, rather than on their releases. This album is proving the sheer opposite. Simply put: This is a banger and the closest contender for my personal album of the year up to now.

To be honest: The lyrical topic of WW1 is of course very interesting, but overused in current metal. From Sabaton to Minenwerfer, from power metal to black metal we have a lot of bands in a very broad genre spectrum who build their concept around the historical figure of one of the most gruesome wars in human history. Do we really need Kanonenfieber to go on the same path? Yes, we do! Because nobody does it like the German black/death metal project. They do not glorify war or use it to make their songs a poetic masterpiece. The texts are very critical and historically accurate, rather than entertaining. This adds up to a realistic listening experience and some gut-wrenching passages. It seems Noise wants us to feel like we are in the trenches or on the anti-aircraft-gun somewhere on the western front. As we already know from their past releases the songs are often underlined by speeches of German generals or politicians.

Generally "Die Urkatastrophe" follows a clearer path than "Menschenmühle", there is a red line throughout the tracks. "Grossmachtfantasie" and "Menschenmühle", the opening tracks of the album, follow the idea of German war obsession, "Panzerhenker" and "Lviv zu Lemberg" tell the stories of special soldiers and battle courses, while "Der Maulwurf" and "Waffenbrüder" turn the feeling into an anti-war direction. This one has it all and this is a big reason why this album is so high regarded by me. I feel like I am right on the battlefield, right in the trenches and I am surrounded by enemy soldiers. The immersion of "Die Urkatastrophe" is simply unreal.

Musically I fell that Kanonenfieber went a big step forward. The earlier releases already were very strong in this regard, but this one takes the musical spectrum to another level. Of course we have very hard passages ("Menschenmühle", "Panzerhenker"), but we also have incredibly fine and thought out guitar passages ("Waffenbrüder", "Lviv zu Lemberg") and we have calm passages scattered throughout the tracklist. I can understand if this can be overwhelming in general, but this is how this whole concept works. Kanonenfieber wants you to be crushed, wants you to be immersed and they want you to think about their songs in a deeper contexts.

Simply put, this is metal how it should be. I won't add much more to this review. Just listen to it and find yourself in the biggest man-made war, between enemy lines and roaring guitars.