Alright here's a rather specific question but it's genuine. Most people know the band Sabaton and how they're very war-themed, same with Iron Maiden. However, I've noticed these bands don't really portray war for what it is. Iron Maiden has those catchy, exciting heavy metal riffs, and Sabaton plays pretty upbeat power metal.

I'm looking for bands that realize and portray war in the way it is, miserable, hopeless, and desperate. Any reccs will be appreciated.

God Dethroned's Passiondale I'd say is the gold-standard for metal about the horrors of war. Spawned a bunch of imitators like 1914 and Kanonenfieber.

Minenwerfer

Kanonenfieber - Menschenmühle
Hail of Bullets - ...of Frost and War

An obvious one but:

Toxic Holocaust - War Is Hell

A simple and to the point approach - both in the title and lyrics.

a lot of thrash and death metal - metallica's one is probably the most famous example out there; surprised no one's mentioned bolt thrower yet

Sacriphyx - The Western Front is a perfect example.

Niden Div. 187's sole album Impergium it's the first one that comes to my mind: Even if it's brief and blast heavy it still oozes desolation and hopelessness like not many others.

Angel Dust - Enlighten the Darkness. It's sad.

Warbringer's Weapons of Tomorrow has a lot of melancholy tracks on it that are supposed to show how miserable war is.