Melodic Black/Death Metal project Kanonenfieber return with their latest offering, Soldatenschicksale, which translates as Soldiers’ fates. The album features two new tracks and a compilation of rerecorded versions of seven of their earlier works from three singles/EP’s.
Kanonenfieber – Soldatenschicksale
Release Date: 6 February 2026
Words: Jools Green
The collective backstory is that “The First World War accelerated the path to modernity,” explains Noise, the mastermind behind this project, “and is considered the Soldatenschicksale of the 20th century, which was characterised by wars, violence and displacement. Around seventeen million people, soldiers and civilians, lost their lives, large parts of Europe were destroyed, and unresolved problems were left behind, which led to further violent conflicts.
“This album is dedicated to the victims of the First World War, so they are not forgotten. May their fates be a warning for all following generations, even after more than one hundred years.”
Noise began this project in 2020 after reading through his deceased great-grandfather’s diary written on the frontlines during the Second World War. These bone-chilling first-hand accounts made him decide to dedicate his art to commemorating the countless victims of war in general. He delivers authenticity, with lyrics and linguistics based on reports, letters and other historical documents.
Noise writes and records all of the music as a solo project, but is accompanied by friends at live shows, which allows him to focus on the vocals and stage performance. They are also deliberately kept anonymous as a reference to the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier monuments in various countries worldwide that commemorate soldiers killed in wars because the horrors of war are universal.
Kanonenfieber’s music is not meant solely to entertain but also to educate and raise awareness against the glorification of war.
Soldatenschicksale opens with two new songs. Firstly, Z-Vor!, which I believe concerns the nautical combat in the Skagerrak Strait between German ships and the British cruiser HMS Galatea. Opening with militaristic drum work and spoken German elements, there is a continued emphasis on that militaristic drive within the riffs.
The layering of choral vocals adds a strong element to the sound, and although it is an up-tempo piece, it does drop to haunting tremolo picking in the second half, rebuilding on a blood-curdling scream.
The second new song is Heizer Tenner. Again, with powerful and rousing punchy delivery and a brutal punch to the lyrical phrasing, there is more of a reflective undercurrent as it opens and when the pace drops midway and towards the close.
The next three pieces continue with the nautical theme, originally on the U-Bootsmann 2023 EP relating to the UB2 class coastal U-boat built during WWI. Around two-thirds of those commissioned were tragically lost during the war, an aspect reflected in the track Die Havarie.
Beginning with the intro Ubootsperre, a sound bite of a sonar beep and voices, it moves straight into Kampf Und Sturm, with the sonar continuing through this largely rapid-paced, blackened, punchy driver. Die Havarie, in contrast, is solemn and reflective as it opens, the militaristic drum rhythms building the atmosphere to open, with the driving pace building. But there is also a sense of gravity developing in the music as the crew becomes trapped on their seabed grave.
Originally on the 2022 Der Füsilier single, the next two rerecorded pieces, I believe, reflect on the Carpathian campaign part of WWI, where between half a million and a million troops were lost on both sides, not just from actual conflict but from the bitter cold and starvation. The exact numbers were never fully calculated. I love the strong, icy Black Metal leaning on Der Füsilier.
Like most of the tracks, it has a German spoken soundbite overlaying part of the music. Midway, it takes a doom twist amidst the wall of tremolo picking. I love the haunting, dark fade out of this understatedly powerful and emotionally charged piece.
We then move on to Der Füsilier II, which continues to be hauntingly emotive and blackened. Again, there is the icy undercurrent, bolstered by the sound of an icy howling wind.
The final two rerecorded pieces are from the Yankee Division single from 2022. Firstly, The Yankee Division March, which appears to reflect the Battle of Saint-Mihiel. We then move on to the Battle of Belleau with the final piece, Die Fastnacht der Hölle, although in linear terms, Belleau happened before Saint-Mihiel Wood. Irrespective of this, they are both hugely powerful blackened offerings.
The Yankee Division is superbly atmospheric with dynamic direction and pace switching, and the acidic, higher and lower blackened vocal delivery is powerful and effective. Die Fastnacht der Hölle comes in punchier in delivery with the marching element to the sound via the riffing but it still has that powerful blackened sound and haunting waves of tremolo picking and doom-laden element.
Soldatenschicksale is definitely an album of two halves for me. The final four tracks, the earlier works from Yankee Division single and Der Füsilier single, stand out above the predecessors in terms of capturing the sheer bleak darkness and despair of conflict. They ooze emotion and atmosphere and are my favourite pieces by a long way. The first tracks are just a little too bombastic for me.
Kanonenfieber release Soldatenschicksale on 6 February 2026 via Century Media Records. Pre-orders are available via kanonenfieber.lnk.to/Soldatenschicksale.
