Year: 2021
Total Time: 63.34
Label: Napalm Records
Here we have the third record “When Fear and Weapons Meet” by the Ukrainian WWI maniacs, 1914, three years after their last release, “Blind Leading the Blind” back in 2018, that made them quite popular to a broader public! So, they rightly signed with Napalm records and made a step further in their career.
First of all I would like to mention how amazing the artwork and the booklet of this release are, inviting the listener to a journey into the European battlefields of the second decade of the 20th century. The band uses a lot of original pictures of that era to tell a story not only with the lyrics, but with some matching photos as well, something that I consider at least impressive! So they offer us a complete package with their bombastic Blackened Death Metal music full of orchestral elements, their very harsh vocals, bagpipes, authentic sounds and speeches of WW1 and finally a powerful and really strong production!
The album begins with the intro “War In”, that is a traditional song of that era (taken from WWI recordings archives I guess) sung in Serbian and after one minute, fire shots begin and hell breaks loose! “FN.30 ACP 19074” was the pistol with the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot and killed in Sarajevo and was the reason that WW1 started. Musically speaking the orchestral arrangements are beyond imagination and even remind me of the greatest moments of the legendary SUMMONING!! And I dare to say that this is my favorite metal song of 2021!!
The following tracks combine these epic melodies that we have already heard in the first track, sometimes with more blast beats and with a lot of sampling with war sounds. I have to stand out the track “The Pillars of Fire (The Battle of Messines)”, that talks about the biggest explosion that man created -before the nuclear one- and 10.000 Germans soldiers were killed. Bombastic orchestral arrangements once again, and desperate vocals as well. Next up is “Don’t Tread with Me (Harlem Hellfighters)”, which tells the story of a black soldier who came from the Ghettos of New York to fight in Europe, and is the hardest song of the album. The next song, “Coward”, brings us a surprise as it is led only by a harmonica and some country sounds, performed by Sasha Boole of ME AND THAT MEN, and tells a story of a guy who didn’t want to fight for the Royal Army. Nick Holms of PARADISE LOST also makes a guest appearance in “And a Cross Now Marks his Place”. “Corps D’ Autos –Canons—Mitrailleuses(ACM)”, is an awesome track with lots of epic elements as well. Finally, another song that blows my mind away is “Mit Gott für König und Vaterland”, which contains some vocals sung in German.
In conclusion, I believe that there is not a single filler track in this record, and I consider it as the best (extreme) metal release of the year. I recommend you to buy it in physical form (cd or vinyl) because you should enjoy a full visual and auditory experience! I never thought that a band from Ukraine was capable of writing such a masterpiece, but trust me it is….
Rating: 8,5/10
Editor: Dimitris Argyrakis
Related Link: 1914 – Facebook Page
