Image is a funny thing. Whatever is on the album cover will, to many metalheads, heavily inform what they will hear. The phenomenon of grouping genres by arbitrary lyrical criteria like pirate or Viking metal is common among more casual (you know, those not pedantically obsessed with spreadsheets and scoring accuracy) listeners. This phenomenon has led to some genre descriptors reading as cryptic arcana to the unseasoned, with war metal possibly being the most confounding example. This band sings about war, right? So it must be war metal…? What sounds like me making a smug joke is a sad truth in music forums and Discord servers, widening the divide between poseurs and elitists even more. Kanonenfieber are not a war metal band, of course — I trust our readership to know this truth. But this wouldn’t be a Scuttlegoat review if I wasn’t gonna rustle some jimmies at least. You see, Kanonenfieber also barely qualify for the blackened death metal moniker. Kanonenfieber‘s interpretation of war is one of pathos, bittersweet glory, and they express it in a matter both melodic and anthemic. And they sound surprisingly similar to Amon Amarth.
Now, the comparison I just made has been hit with some contention in the aforementioned music forums and discords. And even the writing staff at this here glorious blog has not agreed to this narrative in a unified manner [editor’s note: those of us who matter agree.]. To a degree, I believe this categorical aversion stems from the fact that Amon Amarth have not been a strong band in quite some while, and that over the years they have streamlined their sound with the goal of continued mainstream popularity. Yet, if we go back 15 years or more, Amon Amarth did have a sound not unlike what Kanonenfieber serves up on Die Urkatastrophe. Long, melodic arcs present in tremolo leads, often with note choices that outline minor chords. Harmony is simple and effective, and Kanonenfieber manage to weave catchy choruses within that framework without ever losing momentum or stepping off the gas. Therefore, my Amon Amarth comparison is not to be taken as an insult, but rather as an invitation to question preconceptions about popular metal bands. Amon Amarth got to where they are now because, at some point, there was something there. One thing that I cannot quite grasp yet, however, is how much this hymnic, anthemic sound serves the bands stated goal of presenting the first World War as a catastrophic event, and how much of this sound is Kanonenfieber appropriating the tone of the pro-war propaganda of the Great War’s time. As many a band that have dealt with war before them, Kanonenfieber don’t quite manage to make war sound horrific. And as many a poor young boy were lured into the trenches in 1914, you too are being lured here – you’re listening to Amon Amarth-core and you enjoy it. And frankly, so do I.
