I kinda grabbed this as WWI based black metal with a cover reminiscent of some old VoiVod album appealed as did the name Canon Fever. Debut too from a one-man band from Bavaria. Blackened death always kinda worries me for no good reason but I went with it and…

From the opening picked notes of ‘Die Feuertaufe’ and the old sampled German speech it radiated a remarkable class and as the distant rumble of the riff crested the trench it just exploded. A controlled but jagged, charging black metal riff with a hint of bleak melody beneath it all. Subtle keyboards work around the vocals and drum battery, the harsh nature of the song underscored by the insistent melody line. And then sudden silence as the attack pauses.

‘Dicke Bertha’ (I’m guessing a song for the large gun of the time…. dicke…thick? Big Bertha to you and me.) marches in all martial stomp and blackened death riffing. It stomps and drags its heavy body on the rails to load and fire. It’s strange but already this album had got me. The songs reek of desperate times and boiling masses of mindless death.

And then comes ‘Die Schalct Bei Tannenberg’. This is just a firestorm of riffs and violence beautifully balanced between death and black metal. It drops the hammer and just surges. Think Amon Amarth driving a tank but with a deeper black metal feel. The drumming is deafening but drowns nothing. Fantastic soundtrack to a battle in all its horror and momenta of inexplicable calm. ‘Der Letze Flug’ careers in to the sounds of biplanes and artillery and once again the utterly fantastic drum driven tank of a melody just rolls right over me. The energy, the single-minded drive here is bloody glorious. Tempo changes shift gears, the melody bites but nothing can stop this. Nothing.

‘Grabenlieder’ thunders through the trenches towards the stamping sound of ‘Grabenkampf’ when the desperate men meet. Dark and bleak as the rest of the album but full of fire. ‘Ins Niemandsland’ (I’m sure you can guess) is a death metal hammer, disorienting the hopeless souls out there, the vocals call and answer and offer no pity to the lost.

‘Unterstandsangst’ closes the review copy at least. A grim facing of fear, a mid-paced march that rises into epic melody, traces of old CoF maybe in the way it blossoms.

Oh this is a remarkable debut. It’s been ages since an album has grabbed me so securely on first listen and stayed with me on the multiple plays following. Grim but epic, somehow glints of spirit shine through in this utter artillery barrage of an album. Great sound, fantastic songs and excellent use of tempo and vocals this is just so adept, so good.

War is hell, and Kanonenfieber paint this picture with remarkable dexterity and intelligence, but most of all with heart and guts. Get it.

(8.5/10 Gizmo)

https://facebook.com/Kanonenfieber

https://noisebringer-records.bandcamp.com/album/menschenm-hle