If there's one certainty in these uncertain times, it's that PURITY THROUGH FIRE will continue to raise the banner of nowadays German black metal: proud and pure in its expression, honoring the past whilst not being shackled to it, and evincing a professionalism that doesn't sacrifice true underground spirit. Their latest executioners are AD MORTEM, who'll be familiar to those who caught their PURITY THROUGH FIRE-released split with standard-bearers MAVORIM in that very uncertain year of 2020. While their split-mates are true titans of today's Teutonic black metal scene, AD MORTEM proved to be a poignant counterpart, evincing an undeniable physicality that remained hook-heavy and hummable.
Since their formation in 2007, MINENWERFER have pursued a proud 'n' pure vision of black metal idiosyncratically focused on World War I - idiosyncratic, in the sense that the band hail from America but mostly sing in German. What has resulted is a startlingly accomplished canon that has quietly built itself into prolific proportions, with their first album arriving in 2010, followed by albums in 2012 and 2019, and a slew of split releases and EPs in the interim.