1914 – Where Fear And Weapons Meet Album Review

Napalm Records – 2021 – Ukraine

1914, one of Ukraine’s most famous bands in recent years, along with Jinjer, released their 3rd album, “Where Fear and Weapons Meet,” in October 2021 on Napalm Records.

In their album, 1914, they basically tell the story of World War I. (It’s not always about World War II, is it?) The band managed to keep their audience very loyal and alive with their songs mostly about the eastern front, animated videos, and war-themed visuals they share almost every day on social media, and musically, they managed to present us with a work that is a few levels above the previous albums.

I must say that I narrowly missed seeing them live this year. I hope health and budget will come back and I will have the opportunity to see them live.

Moving on to the album, after the intro, the album opens with a track called FN.380 ACP#19074, whose name is quite difficult to pronounce. The special feature of this track is that it deals with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and his wife in Sarajevo, which is considered the beginning of World War I. (If you are curious about the subject, you can find many sources on YouTube.) To give information about the name of this song, it is the serial number of the gun used by Gavrilo Princip, who carried out this assassination, and it has been processed in various forums that this song was written through Gavrilo’s eyes.

1914’s style includes death metal, doom metal, and black metal themes. I think they have captured a unique genre because, in the concert videos I’ve seen, they play quite fast and hard. But in their albums, their tempo doesn’t go beyond a certain point.

At the beginning of the article, I made a small comment that they were talking more about what happened on the eastern front, but in the later part of the album, I recommend you read the story about the Belgian front and the British attacks, especially the mass slaughter at the battle of Messines. This battle is quite remarkable, with more than 10,000 soldiers dying at one time…

Don’t Tread on Me (Harlem Hellfighters) is a very interesting detail; this team, which was originally part of the American army, was not originally composed of Americans. It was made up of slave soldiers, immigrants from the colonized states, and some white American soldiers. Their treatment of this subject is quite effective. You can feel more black metal riffs and speed on this track.

“191 days under fire, never retire.
Men of Bronze go forward or die
Hold one’s ground that’s why they call us Hellfighters.”

The song “Coward” is an acoustic version. I guess that the subject matter was written for the Australian and New Zealand soldiers (maybe not, but I couldn’t find any detailed information).

“My father said – son, your country needs you
Come join the king’s army in the final breakthrough”

And a Cross Now Marks His Place is about a letter written to his mother by an ordinary soldier who died in combat. It tells the story of a soldier named A.G. Harrison and the team he was part of.

The song Corps d’autos-canons-mitrailleuses (A.C.M.) has lyrics about the Belgian machine gun and cannon-carrying mobilized unit, which managed to protect the Yser front for about 4 years during the war. Later, at the request of the Russian tsar, they fought with the tsarist army on the Prussian front against the Germans and then went to America.

“Life as a gift, our life as a present from King Albert to Tsar Nikolai
Now the ship is sailing to the shore of Archangel.”

Mit Gott für König und Vaterland can be translated as “God for King and Motherland Prussia.” It is stated in the sources that it was an important slogan for the Prussian region and was embroidered on the hats of the soldiers.

The album closes with “The Green Fields of France.” This is a track originally by Eric Bogle and was included in the album as a cover. I would like to say that I couldn’t find too many details.

I think I’ve explained the songs of the album almost as much as I can understand and find. It’s an album with very deep lyrics; musically speaking, it’s already completely indisputable. Would I be overpraising it if I said that it’s a truly original album with the top-notch recording quality, masterpiece-level compositions, and lyrics that cover topics we don’t hear much? I think not! It’s totally worth the 1 hour and 3 minutes of your time!

Even the cover is quite meaningful, with the figure of the grim reaper greeting the dying soldiers on the battlefront… In short, if you follow the lyrics and research the topics covered while listening to this album, it will become even more meaningful for you!

9/10

Note : This album review was published in Turkish on January 19, 2022.