Ukrainian blackened death/doom unit 1914 have spent their career exploring the battles and horrors of World War I, releasing four albums and a handful of smaller releases that document the highs, lows, battles, casualties and small details of the conflict, which completely reshaped the world. On their latest effort, new album Virbus Unitis (Latin for “with united forces”), they bring their focus to brotherhood and endurance among those fighting in trench warfare.
Trench warfare is generally agreed upon as one of the most brutal and terrifying forms of warfare, where opposing armies dug out trenches to shelter and fight in as a result of advancements in machine gun technology and artillery. Unsurprisingly in hindsight, this led to mass casualties as a result of both war and disease, as well as countless cases of shell shock or what we know today as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Trench warfare is bad, but 1914 are good, which is why Decibel got with the band for a track-by-track breakdown of Virbus Unitis, out now on Napalm Records. The story follows entrenched solider Ivan Pišta and tells his story in World War I.
War In (The Beginning of the Fall)
As with every 1914 album, the journey begins with an atmospheric intro. It sets the tone, immersing the listener in the spirit of the record. The first notes you hear are the anthem of the Austro-Hungarian Empire – just as the story of our protagonist Ivan Pišta, begins in the ranks of the imperial army. His path through the Great War starts here.
1914 (The Siege of Przemyśl)
The longest siege in European history, and the longest of the Great War -133 brutal days. Russia threw enormous forces against Przemyśl, the third largest fortress in Europe after Antwerp and Verdun.
For our protagonist, Ivan, this was the first true trial. The Galician Battle had ended in chaos and retreat, but here, behind colossal walls, the Austro-Hungarian artillery struck with devastating precision. In just the first three days, 40,000 Russians fell. Over a century later, the tactic of endless human-wave assaults remains tragically unchanged.
1915 (Easter Battle for the Zwinin Ridge)
One of the largest and bloodiest battles of the First World War – yet nearly forgotten by Europe and the world. Nearly two million soldiers from both sides were killed or wounded in this senseless slaughter.
The Russians pushed hard to seize the Carpathian passes and break through to the plains. Austro-Hungarian troops resisted desperately, but it was German reinforcements that prevented the collapse. Inhuman conditions defined the fight: –20°C, blizzards, snow over a meter and a half deep. Soldiers stormed mountain ridges and passes, under impossible circumstances. The Central Powers eventually prevailed, retaking Galicia and restoring Lviv under imperial control.
1916 (The Südtirol Offensive)
After Galicia was recaptured from the Russians, the protagonist Ivan, was transferred to the dreaded Italian Front – as were tens of thousands of Ukrainians serving under Austria-Hungary.
Two Austro-Hungarian armies were assembled under Archduke Eugen: nearly 200 battalions and 2,000 guns, including 280 heavy pieces. Among them were the monstrous Škoda 30.5 cm mortars, firing 384 kg shells up to 10 km, reducing towns, villages, fortifications – and human lives – to rubble.
Was 2,000 guns enough? For the men in the trenches, it was never enough to bring an end to the carnage.
1917 (The Isonzo Front)
Between 1915 and 1917, twelve battles raged along the Isonzo River, pitting Italian forces against Austro-Hungarian and German troops. The twelfth, remembered as the Battle of Caporetto, began on 24 October 1917 with a devastating artillery barrage. By dawn, German divisions had shattered the Italian lines, capturing Caporetto the same day. The elite German Alpine Corps seized the Kolovrat Ridge, collapsing Italy’s secondary defenses. The defeat was catastrophic: 13,000 Italians killed, 30,000 wounded and nearly 275,000 taken prisoner–many surrendering without resistance. By contrast, Central Powers losses numbered around 70,000.
Caporetto became one of Italy’s darkest hours, and one of Austria-Hungary’s most stunning victories.
1918 Pt. I: WIA (Wounded in Action)
The Second Battle of the Piave River. By 1918, Italy had recovered from its earlier disasters, fielding seven full armies and over 7,000 modern artillery pieces. Austria-Hungary assembled 58 divisions – nearly a million men – backed by 6,750 guns, joined by German reinforcements. The offensive collapsed. By June 20th, Emperor Karl I ordered retreat. Chaos spread across the front as entire units abandoned their weapons.
In one such encirclement, our protagonist Ivan was struck by a grenade thrown by Italian Arditi troops, wounded in the head and taken unconscious into captivity. He awoke in a labor camp.
1918 Pt. II: POW (Prisoner of War)
This track draws directly from authentic letters written by Ukrainian soldiers captured in Italy. They describe the inhuman conditions of POW life.
Malaria felled hundreds of our people, and in time came outbreaks of typhus (in Cassino), the Spanish flu, and other diseases, which severely undermined the health of our men. A significant number could not endure the suffering and succumbed to illness on the spot, where they now rest in graves numbering not hundreds but thousands (on the island of Asinara). Frequent deterioration in food quality (including rotten herring on Asinara and in Cassino) and insufficient medical care greatly increased the already alarming number of the sick and deceased. Amid such dire circumstances, the bitter anguish of our soldiers was compounded by the lack of news from home and the constant despair over their plight. There was an absolute absence of any authority willing to hear their grievances or alleviate their suffering.
Prisoners lost everything upon capture. Many were sent to tents, exposed to rain and cold, then forced into harsh labor – breaking stones, working fields, building roads. Malaria, typhus, and the Spanish flu swept through camps. Food was rotten; medical care was absent. Tens of thousands died in places like Asinara, Sardinia, and Cassino, buried in mass graves.
In total, Italy held over 600,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers – 60,000 of them Ukrainians. For many, captivity was a slower death than the front itself.
1918 Pt. III: ADE (A Duty to Escape)
By early 1919, Ivan knew his war was over – but captivity tormented him. Together with Slovene cadet aspirant Frane Hribar and Polish officer Zdzisław Łuczyński, he forged a desperate plan to escape.
Through the snowbound Alps they fled – freezing, starving, facing endless white mountains and lethal frost. Only mutual aid and friendship carried them forward.
The track features a haunting guest performance by Aaron, whose almost liturgical vocals capture the cold grandeur of the mountains – death, despair, hope and, finally, victory.
1919 (The Home Where I Died)
The final chapter of Ivan’s life. He dreamed of nothing but returning to his family – to embrace his daughter, to hold his wife, to live a quiet life at last. For two short weeks, those dreams came true.
But war does not release its prey. With Galicia occupied by Poland under Allied approval, Ivan once again took up arms. His city, Lviv, was in enemy hands. The war went on – the war that never ends.
War Out (The End?)
Ivan fell on 28 June 1919, the last day of the Chortkiv Offensive, near his beloved Lviv – the city he had longed to see again. His burial place is unknown. He became one of the countless Ukrainians who died for the freedom of their homeland.
The album closes with the first recorded anthem of Ukraine – a symbol that, despite countless occupations and invasions, Ukraine endures. It lives, it resists, and it remembers.
The post 1914 Break Down Their New Album, <i>Viribus Unitis</i> appeared first on Decibel Magazine.