Minenwerfer is an American

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

band. It was founded in 2007 in

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

History

The band started in 2007 as a solo project of

Bret Tardiff Bret or BRET may refer to: People and fictional characters * Bret (given name), a personal name, including a list of people and fictional characters * Bret (surname), a list of people * Bret (Artisan Bakery), an artisan bakery specialized in sour ...

("Generalfeldmarschall Kriegshammer"), a

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

. He released a lo-fi demo in December 2007 but had no long-term plans. He was later joined by Patrick Jimmose ("Oberstleutnant Angeltits"). Together, they recorded their debut studio album '' Volkslieder'', which was a major step forward in terms of production quality. They released a split single with the martial industrial band Striider shortly after. Martial industrial elements also appeared on the band's second studio album, '' Nihilistischen'', released in May 2012. An improvement in sound quality was made once again, as the recording took place in a studio. Jimmose was not very active anymore at that point. He eventually left and was replaced by Nick Liuzzi („Wachtmeister Verwüstung“). Minenwerfer temporarily disbanded in 2014 due to a lack of time and financial issues. They collaborated with other metal bands (Sturmtiger,

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...

, Kommandant) on several split albums before reestablishing in 2016. In August 2018, the band announced on Facebook that the recording of their third studio album had begun. On September 7, 2019, it was announced that work on '' Alpenpässe'' was finished and the record was to be released soon. Three days later the cover art, overall theme as well as one song were unveiled. The album itself was released on October 31. The band's fourth album, '' Feuerwalze'', was released in 2023: The band decided to put out the digital version on February 25 due to an online leak; the cassette, CD and 12" vinyl versions were released on March 10, 2023, as originally planned. Thematically, the album focuses on the

battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme (; ), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 Nove ...

Influences, style, theme

The founder of the band, Bret Tardiff, claims its sound was inspired by many other black metal bands, namely

Marduk Marduk (; cuneiform: Dingir, ᵈAMAR.UTU; Sumerian language, Sumerian: "calf of the sun; solar calf"; ) is a god from ancient Mesopotamia and patron deity of Babylon who eventually rose to prominence in the 1st millennium BC. In B ...

Endstille Endstille is a black metal band from Germany. It was founded in 2000 by L. Wachtfels (guitar), Mayhemic Destructor (drums), Iblis (vocals) and Cruor (bass) in Kiel. L. Wachtfels and Mayhemic Destructor had previously played in the band Tauthr, w ...

Hate Forest Hate Forest is a Ukrainian black metal band formed by Roman Saenko, the leading member of Drudkh, Dark Ages, and Blood of Kingu. Thurios joined the band in 1998 after the recording of ''Scythia''. The music is mostly very fast, but occasionall ...

and

Impaled Nazarene Impaled Nazarene is a Finnish extreme metal band that started as black metal but have incorporated elements of grindcore, thrash metal and death metal, and have grown more towards hardcore punk. History The band formed in November 1990, with fo ...

. Minenwerfer focuses on the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

nihilism Nihilism () encompasses various views that reject certain aspects of existence. There have been different nihilist positions, including the views that Existential nihilism, life is meaningless, that Moral nihilism, moral values are baseless, and ...

in their songs, featuring English and German lyrics. This is reflected in their title (

Minenwerfer ''Minenwerfer'' ("mine launcher" or "mine thrower") is the German name for a class of short range mine shell launching mortars used extensively during the First World War by the Imperial German Army. The weapons were intended to be used by engin ...

was a type of mortar used by Germany in the First World War) and logo. Until the release of ''Kriegserklärung'' in 2014, all records simply featured the band's name in gothic writing. Since the EP was written from the point of view of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, the Austrian-Hungarian coat of arms was present instead. Afterwards, the band's logo became the

iron cross The Iron Cross (, , abbreviated EK) was a military decoration in the Kingdom of Prussia, the German Empire (1871–1918), and Nazi Germany (1933–1945). The design, a black cross pattée with a white or silver outline, was derived from the in ...

, as the lyrics focused on Germany once again. Tardiff stated in a 2019 interview that the coat of arms would be seen again; it appeared on the 2019 ''Alpenpässe''.

Discography

Studio albums

* '' Volkslieder'' (2010) * '' Nihilistischen'' (2012) * '' Alpenpässe'' (2019) * '' Feuerwalze'' (2023)

Compilation albums

* ''Vorleben Erinnerung'' (2020)

EPs

* ''Der Rote Kampfflieger'' (2011) * ''Kriegserklärung'' (2023)

Demos

* ''Kaiserreich'' (2007) * ''Alle Beruhigen Sich Auf Der West Vorderseite'' (2009) * ''Vorwärts'' (2010)

Members

;Current * Bret Tardiff „Generalfeldmarschall Kriegshammer“ – vocals, rhythm guitar, bass * Nick Liuzzi „Wachtmeister Verwüstung“ – guitar, drums ;Former * Patrick Jimmose „Oberstleutnant Angeltits“ – guitar * Jim Boots „Feldwebel Rabenkrähe“ – drums * Pete Chavez „Oberst Gemetzel“ – drums * Trevor Deschryver „Hauptmann Hymen Burster Von Richthofen“ – drums (live performances only)

References

External links

Minenwerfer on Bandcamp
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Minerwerfer (band) Black metal musical groups from California Musical groups established in 2007 American rock music duos Heavy metal duos Musical groups from Sacramento, California