Info
- Band(s): Dolchstoss
- Label(s): Drakkar Productions
- Release Format(s): 12" vinyl, CD
- Release Year: 2024
- Review Date: July 4, 2024
- Author(s): LV
Dolchstoss, the name derived from the Stab In The Back myth/legend of old, are a relatively young and new Black Metal band from Liege in Belgium, that uses the themes of the Great War of 1914-1918, World War I that is, as an inspirational source for their music.
They emerged in 2021, their infectious music quickly led to an album in 2022, called ‘War is Eternal’ which was thankfully picked up by Drakkar Productions France and on their latest opus they continue to refine their craftsmanship.
The martial atmosphere, the merciless martial drumming and the coarse barking vocals of Traugott von Falkenhausen (all musicians adopted German monickers to emphasize the horrid era of WW1) the entire package is as tight as a wet leder hosen and deadlier in sound than a whiff of mustard gas.
Musically, the harsh and corrosive grinding violence of Dolchstoss strongly, very strongly, reminds of the more war influenced albums of Marduk, like their godly ‘Frontschwein’.
To my knowledge, no band has ever ventured so deep into the annals of WW1, the trench wars, the frontal assaults, the senseless massacres, the horrible losses of human lives and the use of new, industrially manufactured weaponry: poison gas, artillery, heavy machine guns, the first armoured vehicles and proto tanks. WW 1 is and was a conflict that would completely change the tactics of warfare – forever, a development that continues to this very day.
But we here to talk about the music. This music ascends above the usual “state of the art” status, an incredible (!!!) clear and detailed soundscape complimented by a divine production that steamrolls over you like a proverbial char d’assault, machine gunning drums spewing shells in a straight or curved trajectory, walls of buzzing guitars filled with majestic tremolo picking, a thunderous back end bass deliver the finest storm troopers to enter the battle field. And Dolchstoss take no prisoners: everything gets mowed down by this well-oiled Belgian war machine.
As crisp as detonating landmines, sharper than the scattered barbed wire and harder than a German Stahlhelm M1916, shrapnel gets scattered and sprayed in all directions, shellshocked you listen in awesto every new charge, descending upon you in wave of wave. Whether it’s ‘Flood of Retaliation’, ‘Mir juckt die Säbelspitze’, ‘Forced March’ or ‘Mörser’.
This is a 42 minute plus carnage – Dolchstoss simply won’t stop until all their ammo is depleted. WW1 is a a generous topic, fortified foxholes, trenches filled with mud, rats and blood, tanks, airplanes, 16 million dead, the Triple Alliance, Triple Entente, Centralized Forces, Eastern and Western front, Flanders fields, Dolchstoss are delving in a gold mine. Yet, the band doesn’t sympathize with these historical events, but simple pour them into extra ordinary packages of musical TNT.
I’m already sold and saving for a big azz Kaiser mustache and may this band deliver even more brilliant albums like ‘Embers of the Fallen’. Pin some medals on these guys.
A MANDATORY album for the fans of brutal gloomy Black Metal and possibly one of the best albums of 2024! Dolchstoss for world domination!
Listen and learn!
