It was in this past year with 1914 that fans of extreme metal and researchers of World War 1 got a real treat as fans of that incredibly small corner of metal got to see 1914 rise the ranks of the style itself with “The Blind Leading the Blind” becoming a standout record of last year, my personal second favorite of 2018, and the reason they got signed to Napalm Records. As for the rest of us scouring the underground, Panzerfaust delivered as well this year but now it’s Minenwerfer who gets their turn again to show us what they’re made of, and it’s nothing short of more than worthy for the quality that has already permeated the niche style.

Once even releasing a split with 1914, it was Minenwerfer that takes the concept of the entire style itself to its own kind of extreme with their uncompromising sound that isn’t afraid for a second to, like every other band of the style, give us the true gravity of war itself from its gore to its psychological effects to its horrifying acts. And the fact that there are always so many events to dig into on so many different fronts from so many different countries, each band can bring forth something new to the table which Minenwerfer takes clear advantage of with “Alpenpässe”. Here we’re taken to the Italian front where they fought in the mountains at the most extreme of altitudes in the middle of no less than brutal winter so that cover art is far from an exaggeration, and Minenwerfer brings the events that happened over a century ago back to our minds in such unrelenting detail that it makes for a truly harrowing album to say the least. Bringing two different languages to the table consistently for “Alpenpässe”, there isn’t a single track from this album that Minenwerfer doesn’t bring to life with surprising vigor and untouchable power. The very chill of that winter over a hundred years ago finds its way into your spine as “Alpenpässe” progresses with both scathing speed and the opposite where you can feel like you’re moving along trudging through the several foot thick snow that is quite literally on the side of a mountain to find a perch in order to spot the enemy as well as hide from them. Minenwerfer constantly brings that contrast to the forefront perfectly in every track with loads of diversity across each song as well to create an amazingly layered album that eviscerates the soul just as much as it can give it moments of brevity that are somehow even more haunting as though you’re lying in wait for the impending ambush. The whole of “Alpenpässe” is like that, and Minenwerfer pulled it off more than perfect as it’s with this album alone that we’ve gotten one of the best works of its kind that can easily stand alongside of its previously mentioned contemporaries like 1914 and Panzerfaust as one of the top bands of its style.

Many, if not all, of us realize that 2019 has been a very, very, very fruitful year for metal fans of all sorts and for those of us who are history fans, “Alpenpässe” is a boon like none other that we have seen this year. There are so many works that have earned the right to be categorized as “must hear”, and it’s no question that Minenwerfer has created something that more than qualifies as such!
LISTEN to “Alpenpässe” on Bandcamp here.

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