Ukrainian blackened death/doom metal offensive 1914 continue to reflect the gruesome tales of World War I, its soldiers’ fate, their death, fear and feats to be never forgotten, and unleash their new opus, Where Fear and Weapons Meet via Napalm Records. Its eleven tracks of pure historic harshness follow up to the band’s sophomore full-length, The Blind Leading the Blilnd (2018), and debut, Eschatology of War (2014), both highly acclaimed amongst critics, and create a sophisticated variety of massively brutal blackened death metal accented by dramatic and realistic audio soundscapes and disquieting melodies spiced with the approach of sludge and doom! On Where Fear and Weapons Meet, the Ukrainian five-piece founded in 2014 takes the listener back to the horrible, dark days of World War I once more. Packed with a great deal of knowledge, the lyrics attend to the fate of individuals that exemplify the cruelty of war and countless other stories. 1914 break into their third offering with the intro “War In”, summed up by final “War Out”, and immediately build a common thread to the previous records. What lies between is an intense, in-depth analysis on historical events like for example The Battle of the Menin Road Ridge on “Coward” featuring Sasha Boole (Me And That Man), The Battle of Messines on “Pillars of fire”, or the infantry regiment, the Harlem Firefighters, on “Don’t Tread On Me”. Massive “...and a cross now marks his place” features Paradise Lost vocalist Nick Holmes and tells of the death of private A. G. Harrison, who was killed in action on May 20, 1918 and about his mother, hearing the terrible news of her son never coming back. Authentic forces like ambient sonic war samplings transfer these stories even further into the present and make Where Fear and Weapons Meet another heavily intense and deep-reaching output that will grant 1914 even higher appreciation than the five-piece is already credited with.
