ALBUM REVIEW: Blind Leading The Blind – 1914
Extreme metal has often proven to be an excellent medium through which to explore and discuss the horrors of war. From BOLT THROWER and LEGION OF THE DAMNED through to more catchy and accessible bands like SABATON, the general intensity and aggression of death and black metal in particular do a great job of conveying many of the more brutal aspects of conflict through human history. 1914 are a band that does a great job of capturing the violence and dread of warfare incredibly well in their music, blending driven, ferocious blackened death metal with a bleak and foreboding atmosphere, to great effect.
After the brief, sample orientated opener War In runs its course, Blinf Leading The Blind proper begins with the powerful and ferocious Arrival. The Meuse-Argonne. This is a razor sharp, speed driven slab of bellicose black metal with plenty of great melodic hooks and beastly, booming gutturals, built around precise and monstrous sounding drums and intricate guitars which shift between harsher and cleaner tones with ease, making the initial moments on this record sound every bit as eclectic and fierce as possible. A7V Mephisto is a much steadier and more mid tempo affair, with full, expansive chords and minimal, primal drum patterns making a great backdrop to what proves to be an incredibly atmospheric and grandiose piece of music. It does eventually shift gears, becoming blisteringly fast and chaotic, if only briefly, but for the most part 1914 are more subdued, allowing for a dark and grim ambience to carry the song.
High Wood. 75 Acres of Hell is a slow burner. A bleak, foreboding guitar hook suddenly plunges into a cacophonous ferocity, with caustic vocals, imaginative guitar parts and dense, punishing rhythms, all of which contribute to making this an incredibly solid track. Hanging on the Old Barbed Wire acts as a short interlude, which works very well to breaking up the first and second halves of this record, providing a break from the visceral aggression of the music, and bringing the first half of the album to a close extremely well. Passchenhell is another dark and bleak sounding song that blends melancholy-tinged riffs with powerful vocals, making the track sound intense and miserable in equal measure, while C’est mon dernier pigeon is a noticeably more energetic affair. Sharp, acidic vocals, punishing rhythms and dense, crushing guitar parts all conspire to make one of the more vicious and grating effort on the albums second half.
Stoßtrupp follows in much the same manner, but with more robust, groove orientated guitars that give it an absolutely massive sound. The vocals really excel on here too, having just enough emotive weight to make them carve through the mix and stand out alongside the impressive musicianship. It’s a fantastic song that sets the listener up for the last full track on the album, The Hundred Days Offensive, extremely well. This final song is incredibly eclectic, making use of acoustic guitars and samples liberally, helping to create a great atmosphere for the first few minutes of this track, with some booming, primal drumming adding an air of anticipation to the proceedings. The song eventually bursts into life, and proves to be an epic and bombastic piece of music with full, soaring guitars and shrill, bellicose vocals. The song ebbs and flows between more driven, aggressive sections and more mid-paced, cleaner ones, making for a more diverse and memorable track that makes the most of its ten minute span, bringing the album towards its conclusion, bleeding into War Out’s sample heavy sound, providing one final, grandiose track, before the eleventh song ends the album on a very similar note to the one that opened this album, bringing everything full circle.
When it comes to following up a debut album like Eschatology Of War, it was always going to be quite the feat for 1914 to create an album that surpassed its predecessor. Luckily, they have done a great job, with their album featuring more immersive, diverse and interesting sounding black metal with a solid, modern touch and several deeply atmospheric flourishes. Listening to this album from start to finish is probably best, because there are a few songs that, when singled out and listened to in their own right, come across as a little bit weak and forgettable, most notably Paschenhell, and work much better when listened to within their context on the record. As a whole, Blind Leading The Blind is a mightily brilliant album with very few downsides, and could well prove to be the musical masterstroke from 1914.
Rating: 9/10
Blind Leading The Blind is set for release May 31st via Napalm Records.
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