As with the recent album by Sarcoptes this one starts with a shrill blast of a whistle signifying troops going over the top of the trenches before descending into an absolute ‘swathe of fire.’ USBM duo Generalfeldmarschall Kriegshammer and Wachtmeister Verwüstung do not however deviate from sticking to the bloodiest campaign that was World War I and as they have proven on three past albums and various splits, things are far from quiet in the hell of their Western Front on the Somme. Past comrades have included Sturmtiger from the UK, their own countrymen Kommandant and Ukrainian defenders1914. This is every bit as toxic as a gas attack from any of the above as well as the deadliest assault from the likes of Endstille and panzer division Marduk.
Tracks like opener ‘Cemetery Fields’ are grim, violent and relentless. Percussive blasts open crater sized holes, scything guitar strangles like barbed wire and the vocals are shrill, throat-shredding rasps. The one complaint is there is no chance of interpreting the latter hellacious squall. It’s not all a lesson in complete barbaric extremity however and as the album sprawls out the musicianship shows great prowess namely from the long snaking guitar weaves and thick bottom end from the bass. There’s little respite at first with one track battering headlong into the next, perhaps that should be no surprise as there was little let-up for troops once the shelling started but propaganda from a loudhailer is there at last with an ominous German voice before the next salvo of hell fire rains down. When the music does slow a little and the atmosphere is ramped up it sends a chill down the spine and a dread feeling of claustrophobia. Jackboots march across ‘Eternal Attrition’ and elongated feedback rings out like a siren before the drums beat a military two-step. A dour melody emerges and things are tinged with futility and pessimism suggesting rightly that there are no winners here, just the folly of slaughter and death.
Only the hardiest will survive the onslaught, there will be nothing in the way of truce as we proceed, sleep perpetuated through the night terrors of ‘Nachtschreck.’ The fear of waking up dead being of little comfort or escape. ‘Sturmtruppen III (Sommekämpfer)’ is simply scathing, the attack has reached its pitch black pinnacle. The shrill screams exemplifying this and the weaving guitars becoming ever-more strident amidst the backdrop of heavy armed drums. As we rattle towards the end there is a near psychedelic vortex from the ever-coruscating guitar work and by the time tools are finally downed on ‘Labyrinthine Trench Sectors’ there is still the sounds of the machinery of war to contend with for several minutes. Sticking head above the parapets is not advisable in the slightest as the echoing strafe of sniper fire will finitely drill you between the eyes.
War is hell and Minenwerfer have done an admirable job of personifying it in musical form. ‘The stench of this will remain on us forever.’
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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