Review KANONENFIEBER “Live in Oberhausen”

Kanonenfieber is one of those bands that have grown slowly but steadily over the past few years. In just five years, the band has catapulted itself into the premier league of German extreme metal, and with “Menschenmühle” and “Die Urkatastrophe”, two very good albums have hit the shelves. The debut album also caught the attention of Century Media, who signed the Bamberg-based metal outfit and gave Kanonenfieber a platform to reach an even wider community of metal enthusiasts.

After releasing a live recording of their show at the Dark Easter Metal Meeting in 2023, Kanonenfieber launch their second live album with “Live in Oberhausen”. On November 23rd, 2024, right after the release of the second studio album, the band played a sold-out show at Turbinenhalle II in front of 1,800 enthusiastic fans.

As you would expect, the focus was on the 2nd album and eight songs found a spot in the setlist. “Grossmachtsfantasie” is the first song played and the historical narrative intro is the perfect start for a powerful show. Besides the song from “Die Urkatastrophe”, Kanonfieber also went back in time by playing “Der Fusilier I” from the 2022 EP and gave a good overview of their releases.

Equipped with a good sound and a rather authentic live atmosphere, “Live in Oberhausen” presents a well done overview of what Kanonenfieber has delivered so far. As the setlist looks quite different to the first live album, fans who already own the previous live recording will get new material to add to their collection. Kanonenfieber strike while the iron is hot and they deserve the attention because they are different with songs that don’t follow the main flow of the genre 100%. What remains is the question of the next steps, as the WWI theme might be hard to maintain over the few upcoming albums. But let’s wait and see while enjoying the massive riff power of “Live in Oberhausen”.