This blackened death metal war brigade’s latest foray continues in the fierce, crushing manner and steadfast heaviness. While unveiling the horrors of World War I through blood and the power of merciless death machines, this album renews the impetus of the brutality.

The guitars keep a tight grip on the scorching riffs, the brutal and aggressive direction in the track “(The Siege of Przemyśl)”, which starts with massive fiery riffs of swirling tremolos and crushing drums, merging the melodies of black metal with pulverizing and crushing riffs of death metal into one gigantic onslaught.

The aural violence intensifies with an extreme, gritty bludgeoning of the drums on “1915 (Easter Battle for the Zwinin Ridge)”, setting the monstrous blackened death metal standards for remarkable progress in the songwriting department. The sinister riffing, along with the percussive bombardment encased in triumphant, blasting blackened sludge, sets an intense formula to the album.

All the more catchy and crushing tempos showcase a level of mastery in unleashing shape tremolo riffing, and it’s on full display in this epic album. “1916 (The Südtirol Offensive)” throws gut punches with a dash of blackened catchy riffs. The guitar tone and the maniacal drumming are the highlights, as the swaggering and stomping firepower put the songs to lofty heights.

In between, the songs are meshed with breakneck velocity and masterful grooves, before the pace transitions into a grim melody. There are plenty of frenzied combinations that break out on “1917 (The Isonzo Front)”, from the increased focus on fast-paced riffing; the drums unleash seismic blast beats and dark melodic tremolo, emphasized perfectly.

The guitars are offset by the massively catchy, tinged melodies, which give the music an emotional anchor; 1914 fuses these destructive elements in an interesting and catchy way. The album is loaded with hooks, chugs, and chunks of riffing aplenty, especially when juxtaposed with an iron-clad blasting; these proportions mostly make the songs more effective.

Instrumentally, “Viribus Unitis” combines a bludgeoning force and firing on all cylinders fortified by frenetic chugging; the vocals are vicious and bring an extra oomph to the blistering chaos. The unbridled brutality recalls the modern age of death metal and old-school bands like Bolt Thrower and Asphyx, with less doom sensibilities; the riffs are reminiscent of Marduk and Panzerfaust.

Though it’s worthy to mention that the grandeur and the death doom aspect is achieved professionally on the pic track “1918 Pt 1: WIA (Wounded in Action)”. 1914, plodding forward into the fields of war. The drums hammer and crush the skull, boosted by the choir of death, and let you imagine you are standing in the midst of the battlefield.

The glorious march continues in the next song, “1918 Pt 2: POW (Prisoner of War)”, only this time the vocals sound solemn, the mid-paced sections are laden with lumbering death doom riffs. The cinematic quality seems to be one of the hidden facets of 1914 on this album; despite achieving this momentum, the slower epic songs bring a sense of dread.

There is a clear emphasis on creating an atmospheric texture to the chunky effect of the riffs in the “1918 Pt. 3: ADE (A duty to escape)”, which features ex-(My Dying Bride) Aaron Stainthorpe. The song is mostly mid-paced but offers heaviness that feels crafted from the essence of doom metal, and it’s also the most melodic and dramatic track on this album.

The melancholic piano intro of “1919 (The Home Where I Died)” chokes you in an oceanic soundscape; the clean vocals are handled by Jerome Reuter (Rome), and it feels like the dramatic quality conjures up images of war film noir classics. This is to say that these two tracks are weakest on the album and somehow drenched in lush landscape, and don’t fit with the previous set list of the album.

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