1914 – Blackened Death/Doom Offensive Reveals Second Single + Video “Pillars of Fire (The Battle of Messines)”
New Album, Where Fear and Weapons Meet, Out October 22
[Photo Credit: May Lee]
Ukrainian WWI experts 1914 continue to reflect the gruesome tales of World War I, its soldiers’ fate, their death, fear and feats to be never forgotten on their sinister new epos, Where Fear and Weapons Meet, out October 22, 2021 via Napalm Records.
After revealing their massive first outburst, “…And a Cross Now Marks His Place”, featuring none other than Paradise Lost icon Nick Holmes, the blackened death/doom metal frontrunners now reveal another scorching new track, entitled “Pillars of Fire (The Battle of Messines)”. The second single depicts The Battle of Messines in 1917 and starts off with an atmospheric introduction, drawing the listener deep into the album’s theme. Just within the blink of an eye, it erupts into a massive blackened death/doom outburst – freezing the blood in every vein.
Hptm. Ditmar Kumarberg comments:
“This song describes the terrible events of the Battle of the Messines Ridge that occurred from June 7-14, 1917 in Belgium, one of the most insane episodes of the Great War.
Subjects of the British crown and ANZAC dug a huge tunnels under the German positions, packed them with hundreds of tons of explosives and blew them up. In one second, in just one moment, about 10,000 people died. They were simply torn to pieces. The human brain is always subject to non-trivial approaches to kill each other. The title of the track is a direct reference to the wonderful book by Jan Passingham – ‘Pillars of Fire: The Battle of the Messines Ridge’, also the movie ‘Beneath Hill 60’, and memories of the participants of this event. Some eyewitnesses described the scene as “pillars of fire”, although many also acknowledged this was indescribable.”
Subjects of the British crown and ANZAC dug a huge tunnels under the German positions, packed them with hundreds of tons of explosives and blew them up. In one second, in just one moment, about 10,000 people died. They were simply torn to pieces. The human brain is always subject to non-trivial approaches to kill each other. The title of the track is a direct reference to the wonderful book by Jan Passingham – ‘Pillars of Fire: The Battle of the Messines Ridge’, also the movie ‘Beneath Hill 60’, and memories of the participants of this event. Some eyewitnesses described the scene as “pillars of fire”, although many also acknowledged this was indescribable.”
Watch the video for “Pillars of Fire”
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. “War In” is the original of the most famous Serbian song of the Great War period, “Tamo Daleko”. Like World War I, the album begins in Serbia and continues on the first track from the prospective of Gavrilo Princip, who assassinated Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife on June 28, 1914 in Sarajevo and caused the outbreak of World War I.
What happens next is an intense, in-depth analysis of historical events. For example – Battle of Vimy Ridge, shameful pages of the British Empire history in the track “Coward” featuring Sasha Boole (Me And That Man), The Battle of Messines on “Pillars of Fire” or the infantry regiment, the Harlem Hellfighters, on “Don’t Tread On Me”. Authentic forces like ambient sonic war samplings transport 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.
1914 on the album:
“Where Fear and Weapons Meet continues the theme we started on The Blind Leading the Blind – with one major difference: these are the stories about hope where most of our characters are staying alive, becoming heroes, and returning back to their homes. Yes, it is still about fear, death, and senselessness of war, but the hope is the only thing the soldier holds on to. And a good portion of luck as well. Even the album cover reflects this – the man lays wounded, bleeding in the trench, reaching his hand to Death begging for relieve, and Death declines to take him. He deserves to live.
The album starts with the assassination in Sarajevo, leads you through the bloodiest moments of the Great War, and ends up with the monologue on a grave of a young man killed in his first battle. This time we did have even more hard digging into the historical background while making the tracks. We are not singing the songs, we are telling the stories!”
“Where Fear and Weapons Meet continues the theme we started on The Blind Leading the Blind – with one major difference: these are the stories about hope where most of our characters are staying alive, becoming heroes, and returning back to their homes. Yes, it is still about fear, death, and senselessness of war, but the hope is the only thing the soldier holds on to. And a good portion of luck as well. Even the album cover reflects this – the man lays wounded, bleeding in the trench, reaching his hand to Death begging for relieve, and Death declines to take him. He deserves to live.
The album starts with the assassination in Sarajevo, leads you through the bloodiest moments of the Great War, and ends up with the monologue on a grave of a young man killed in his first battle. This time we did have even more hard digging into the historical background while making the tracks. We are not singing the songs, we are telling the stories!”
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