UMUR
"The Blind Leading The Blind" is the second full-length studio album by Ukrainian, Lviv based black/doom/death metal act 1914. The album was released through Archaic Sound/Redefining Darkness Records in November 2018. It´s the successor to "Eschatology Of War" from December 2015. Reading the band members names in the booklet does not reveal if there have been any lineup changes, as all members of the band have been given new artist names compared to the artist names they had on the preceding release. The lead vocalist was for example named 2.Division, Infanterie-Regiment Nr.147, Oberleutnant - Ditmar Kumar on "Eschatology Of War", while he is named Capt. John B. Kumar (K Company 307th Infantry Regiment) on this album. It´s all part of the World War I concept of 1914 which the band are fully dedicated to in both music, lyrics, and image.
Stylistically the material on "The Blind Leading The Blind" is a continuation of the hybrid black/death/doom metal style of "Eschatology Of War" and the two albums are actually quite similar in style and sound. 1914 have however tweaked their sound and progressed enough for this not to be a complete clone of the debut album. The lyrics are still solely about World War I though, and 1914 even manage to make their (pretty brilliant) cover of The Exploited´s "Beat the Bastards" work within the concept of the album.
"The Blind Leading The Blind" opens and closes with the two 1910s patrotic radio tune samples complete with scratch noises from the old vinyls which helps set the mood for the remaining part of the album. Other tracks feature various other samples as intros and atmosphere enhancers, but it´s not overdone and always fits with the tracks. In addition to guitars, bass, drums, and vocals, the "Passchenhell" track features a haunting violin part, which greatly enhances the atmosphere of that particular track (the atmospheric lead parts are predominantly played with a guitar though). The vocals vary between snarling black metal snarling, and brutal death metal growling. Lead vocalist Dmytro Ternushchak has a strong voice and a commanding delivery, which are great assets to the band´s sound.
The album feautures a massive, meaty, and detailed sound production, which manages to enhance the material. The sound production is mostly suited for the death metal and doom metal parts, but the black metal parts also work well. So upon conclusion "The Blind Leading The Blind" is a high quality release from 1914. It´s not always hybrid black/death/doom metal releases work, but 1914 are really good at what they do. They write quite catchy material too, and it doesn´t take more than a few spins before you begin to be able to growl/snarl along to some of the parts. I for example find the part on "C'est mon dernier pigeon" where they sing "We need more skulls", "Kill, kill, kill" extremely effectful within the context of that particular track. A 4 star (80%) rating is fully deserved.
