Sturmtiger - World at War 1914-1918

STURMTIGER - World at War 1914-1918 (BLACK PLAGUE Records - CD 2014)

World Wars became as important lyrical theme for extreme metal bands as the good, old fashioned (hehe!) antichristianity or occultism, but so far most of them deal with the first of the Great Wars, maybe it’s because it is more attractive to some people from the visual side? Anyway, I can remember such bands as God Dethroned, Decaying and Operation Winter Mist (among others) dealing with the older of two wars and I mention this because here is another band, whose concept is based on it – Sturmtiger. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this band before, but I took the opportunity to review its “World at War 1914-1918” – which is their debut album. It seemed like a promising effort and certainly it turned out to be one!

And now after several listens I can say that I like this album. It contains only five tracks plus intro (plus two bonus tracks, which I will mention later), so it is not too lengthy, but it’s enough to kick some ass and cause a serious bloodshed. This is bestial death / black metal, played in rather simple, but not primitive manner, with the obvious resemblances to such masters of repulse and abhorrence as Revenge, Black Witchery, Angel Corpse / Order From Chaos, Axis of Advance, Urgrund, D666 and more! The music is violent, obscure, raw and ominous… and maybe also “World at War 1914-1918” doesn’t offer anything spectacular or unheard before – actually it is rather mediocre effort… but! But I still like it. It simply has this morbid and sick feeling, which I enjoy in the music and more so, it is perfect if you want to just play something simple, but pure and sadistic, aggressive and cruel – just as the war is! Most of the songs on “World at War 1914-1918” are fast, with some slower moments, but at the same time they’re kind of catchy, because of the simple riffs and arrangements. Just the classic bestial war death / black metal, but I like that it not only sounds powerful, but also that the production is quite good, very heavy and thus the riffs sound so fuckin massive…

And I mentioned two bonus tracks. They’re older songs of Sturmtiger, taken from their debut self titled 2007 EP and well… I don’t like them. They sound like completely different band, stylistically it’s mediocre black metal in more Scandinavian way, but nothing really interesting. And more so, they simply don’t fit the rest of “World at War 1914-1918”, so honestly I would prefer if the album stopped on “War Power”, which is the final song. These old tracks break the whole feeling, you know? So, I rather skip them every time I play this album… Anyway, I am quite glad to receive the chance to hear Sturmtiger. Listen to such song as “Tank Attack” and get in the frontline!

Standout track: “Tank Attack”

Final rate: 70/100