So, the last time I sat down to review a 1914 record (2021’s Where Fear and Weapons Meet), the geopolitical landscape of the world was in a very different place. Suffice to say that the world just 4 years ago, even in the midst of a global pandemic, somehow seemed like much less bleak and desperate a time than where we currently find ourselves, which is… um…  a fucking insane reality!

I can say with certainty that the country of Ukraine, home of 1914, would certainly rather turn back the clock to those simpler times before Vladdy-boy decided to turn the entire world on it’s head and do his damnedest to kickstart World War III.  The unceremonious and brutal deaths of some hundreds of thousands of soldiers, not to even mention the tens of thousands of civilians, since the War in Ukraine began in 2022, will tend to make most normal folks stand back and wish for a return to better days.

But despite the relative peace in Ukraine at that time, Where Fear and Weapons Meet still saw 1914 turning to a much more aggressive, blitzkrieg-like attack than found in the doomier, moodier beginnings. More blast beats, more shredding riffs, more carnage and chaos than ever before, even if it came a bit at the sacrifice of some of the dreariness and dread that made an album like The Blind Leading the Blind such a thoroughly compelling record.

So it’s probably of little surprise that, after 3 years of having to deal with Putin’s temper tantrum, the band comes out the gate with guns absolutely blazing. After staying the course as the band always does with an historical wartime song recording to intro the album, “1914 (The Siege of Przemysi)” gets right down to business with a relentless blast attack and dramatic tremolo-picked riffs that throw you right into the middle of the fray with no warning or time to prepare. Every member of the band seems completely focused on the task at hand (ultimate annihilation), and the attack seems as pinpoint-precise as the band has ever sounded. The result is intoxicating, if a little overwhelming, with a delicious mix of Blackened Death fury and down-and-dirty D-Beat rage giving at moments the feeling of laser-guided missile-like efficiency, and other times a more brutal, hand-to-hand melee of fists and bayonets, real down in the mud and guts type shit.

And for the start of second track “1915 (The Battle for the Zwinen Bridge), you’d be easily forgiven to think that Viribus Unitis was following the same all-out blitzkrieg formula of their prior offering, as the all-on-assault continues on the senses straight away. But midway through the track, we start to get a little bPart it of the magic that, to this reviewer, made some of their earlier work all the more compelling. This time, it starts in the form of some really powerful grouped chanting over a relentless blast that, in and of itself makes for an almost euphoric, chest-swelling listening experience. The band then doubles-down by slowing things right the fuck down, and bringing in some of the doomier, more bleak tones of The Blind Leading the Blind that I felt were lacking on the last record, ramping up to a gorgeous build that keeps those beautiful monastic chants front and center. It’s a really impactful moment early on in the record that suggests the band is bringing a much more layered and nuanced offensive to the battlefield this time around.

After the excellent, if not more straightforward barn burner in “1916 (The Sudtirol Offensive),” follow-up “1917 (The Isonzo Front)” seems to prove the point. Kicking off with another hailstorm start, the band then does a really nice job of varying up tempos, offering up a smattering of some of nastier riffs the band have ever offered, particularly around the 3:50 mark where guitarists Oleksa Fisyuk and Vitaliy Vyhovskyi really just let loose with a pummeling, thunderous sort-of breakdown that hits like a Paris Gun blast. It all makes for one of the strongest tracks on the album, leading nicely into a trilogy of tracks under the name “1918,” starting with “WIA (Wounded In Action).” Where the introduction of orchestral elements were the biggest bright spot and development in the band’s sound on WFAWM, the monastic chants found throughout this album have the same effect here, expertly deployed again on this track to set a really eerie tone the gives one of the doomiest tracks on the album even more life, not to mention the hysterical screaming in the background of the track while vocalist Dmytro Ternushchak repeats the line “SHELL-SHOCK” over and over again. I can practically feel myself loosing my goddamn mind during this passage, and I swear I mean that as a compliment. It’s another powerful moment in an album that stacks quite a few throughout.

Part 2 of the trilogy, “POW (Prisoner of War)” continues the doomy assault, further diving into the depressed state of mind one would presumably be feeling in such a precarious situation, a feeling that carries through into part 3, “ADE (A Duty to Escape).” Both tracks offer standout guest appearance from Christopher Scott (Precious Death) and Aaron Stainthorpe (High Parasite, ex-My Dying Bride) offering appropriately haunting clean vocals to the tracks, and along with album closer “1919 (The Home Where I Died)” (also featuring an incredible guest vocal spot by folk vocalist Jerome Reuter), it all comes together to complete a landmark moment for the band, who deliver their most poignant and impactful stretch of tracks the band has recorded to this point in their career.

Viribus Unitis is, arguably, 1914‘s biggest achievement to date. You can nitpick and say the album’s pacing suffers a touch from the last four tracks taking a decidedly slower approach, but you’d be hard pressed to deny the impact they ultimately leave on you as a listener. This band has always been able to capture all the ugly, glorious, painful and haunting aspects of war through their music, but I suspect recent traumas and struggles in their own home country made it all just hit that much closer to home, and the lasting effects are noticeable and powerful on this record. Once again, go ahead and reserve a spot for 1914 on a number of year-end lists, they’ll certainly be on mine.

 

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