Feuerwalze

Up to now, my opinion had been that Alpenpässe, the previous output from California-based black metal outfit Minenwerfer, had been nigh on impossible to top. It's a sprawling, beautiful, and violent album, one that perfectly evokes images of men fighting atop an alpine peak a hundred years ago. It's also a wonderfully mixed and mastered album, with crisp drums and crunchy guitars. After putting out a masterpiece of that caliber, I went into the new album expecting good, but perhaps run-of-the-mill music, and for it to be in much the same style as before.

I was correct in my assumption of the quality of music, but dead wrong on the style. Where Alpenpässe is a grand, nuanced affair, Feuerwalze is an all-out assault. From the opening battle whistle of Cemetery Fields, through to the bombastic climax of Labyrinthine Trench Sectors, the pace rarely lets up. The occasional dialogue sample makes an appearance, and even those fleeting interruptions are so well placed that I can't imagine the album without them. (A couple have even managed to become earworms. Go figure.)

Above anything else though, it's just a damn good record. The way every song flows into the next, yet each stands out. The nasty hooks and Demonaz-esque riffs. Listening to this all the way through is such an experience; it's emotionally ravaging from start to finish. If Alpenpässe is an epic period war drama, Feuerwalze is black and white footage of combat shot in the trenches.

I truly feel that this album is a high water mark in metal. I hope that people will give it a listen, because it's a great ride.

5 stars