Minenwerfer - Feuerwalze (2023)

Delivering punishing World War I-inspired Black Metal assaults, today we have Minenwerfer and their latest release “Feuerwalze”. Featuring seven tracks and nearly 50 minutes of crushing music, this release is both intense and ravaging thanks to the craftiness of the duo behind the band: Generalfeldmarschall Kriegshammer and Wachtmeister Verwüstung. If you like war-inspired themes alongside intense aural onslaughts, you can’t miss out on this one.

Quickly razing everything in their path, “Cemetery Fields” sets a high-octane tone to this release. Filled with thunderous drumming, piercing guitar riffs, and truly hellish vocals, the band belts out anthems like “Feuerwalze”, and “Eternal Attrition”, with the purpose of unleashing chaos. The band’s style is quite intense and piercing, while also refined and well produced, allowing the music to have maximum impact.

There is a certain shift into more tempered and melodic territories in the ‘second half’ of this album, with songs like “Nachtschreck”, “Labyrinthine Trench Sectors” and “Shrapnel Exsanguination” featuring crafty guitar passages and a slower tempo. However, the band does not stray too far from their nature as our favorite track “Sturmtruppen III (Sommekämpfer)”, demonstrates total armageddon with its ravishing brutal onslaughts.

As a whole, “Feuerwalze” is one hell of a release that one does not expect from a North American band. The band’s sound is punishing and well polished, allowing their music to be expansive while having a sharp raw edge to it. The mixture of brutality with some hints of melody makes some of the tracks in this release quite diverse and engaging, showcasing the band’s more than evident musical range.

Label: Osmose Productions

Release: February 3rd, 2023

Genre: Black Metal

Country: USA