It has such a huge, textured sound, where every nuance can not only be heard but also sounds good in its own right. There are many audiophiles on staff here at AMG Towers and, while I may not be one of them, to these ears at least, Menschenmühle sounds fantastic. Indeed, such is the deft confidence on show here that I can’t help but wonder whether the anonymous Bavarian creator of Menschenmühle is part of some better-known outfit, rather than this being a true debut. The frenzied drumming that carries along much of Menschenmühle also shows moments of confident delicacy, like the ride cymbal over a repeating melodic doom melody about a third of the way into opener “Die Feuertaufe.” These moments of delicate restraint characterize Kanonenfieber‘s songwriting, allowing moments of melodic calm or doom-inspired plodding dread to punctuate and emphasize the crushing weight of the rest of the album. There are, however, nods on “Dicke Bertha,” for example, to the likes of Bolt Thrower, and the gravelly, rasping growl of the vocals owes as much to traditional death, as it does to black metal. The sonic palette in which Kanonenfieber lays out its tale is rooted in atmospheric black metal, meeting in the middle ground between the howling melodies of Minenwerfer and the more bombastic power of Panzerfaust. This is only emphasized by the skillful placement of original spoken-word recordings, like that which opens “Die Schlacht bei Tannenberg,” 2 which lends Menschenmühle such a compelling sense of storytelling. Whether it’s the majestic melodies in the middle of “Die Schlacht bei Tannenberg,” the pounding Teutonic fury of “Dicke Bertha” or the blazing tremolos of “Grabenlieder,” the emotions are writ large, whether one speaks German or not. It drags the listener into the filthy depths of the trenches and through raging, mud-clagged battles to leave you spent and broken in the desolation of No Man’s Land. At its heart an atmospheric black metal project, Kanonenfieber seamlessly blends elements of death metal (“In’s Niemandsland”) and doom (“Die Feuertaufe” and “Unterstandsangst”), with occasional post-metal beauty (“Die Schlacht bei Tannenberg”) to deliver a harrowing sonic journey through one of the most tragic periods of human history. With that unpleasantness out the way, what Kanonenfieber has created with Menschenmühle is nothing short of stunning. A few things, however: first, this is about The Great War, not World War II secondly, and as a result, it has absolutely zero to do with the Third Reich and Nazis thirdly, the samples used (like the extract of the speech by Kaiser Wilhelm II to the German people on 6 August 1914, which opens the record) date from that earlier period and, fourthly, the record deals with the events and experiences of The Great War from the perspective of the German troops, and “is based on factual reports, letters and other documents from the surviving and deceased soldiers.” Lastly, to quote again from Kanonenfieber‘s anonymous founder, “his album is intended to commemorate the countless victims” of The Great War, and, in my humble opinion, it does so admirably, tackling this subject with the same respect and gut-wrenching level of emotiveness that 1914 achieved on The Blind Leading the Blind. Yes, this is a German band-or one-man project, more accurately-singing, in German, about war, and yes, it uses original samples of recordings from the relevant period too. Sadly, 1 I feel that I have to begin this post on Kanonenfieber‘s outstanding Menschenmühle, with a disclaimer, to head off what experience tells me will otherwise undoubtedly rear its head.
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