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Reviews
1349: Hellfire
24/04/08 || Global Domination
This review was written by ex-staffer/cocksmoker Desolator.
Why the fuck haven’t I listened to this band much these days? I don’t know. They’ve done so much for me with their scathing black metal, over-the-top blastings and vicious vocals. When people talk about 1349, the first topic in line will usually be Frost. The fact that his drumming is dangerously fast and akin to a swarm of wrecking-balls justifies his position as one of Norway’s favourite drummers in the black metal kingdom. Ok, the “black metal kingdom” part was gay, but hear me out. When you hire a powerful drummer like Frost, you have to milk his talent for all it’s worth.
Fortunately, this band is not wholly reliant on Frost’s madness. Every member has put their fucken soul into this band. The guitars and bass are scathing and make for a fucking fantastic sound. They are raw and strong at the same time. They’re produced around somewhere between Darkthrone and Dark Funeral I dare say, or write. There is so much authentic and undisputed feeling in the riffs and sound, as well as some all out thrashing madness. A mix between fucking berserk and sombre. I fucking love the vocals too, they capture the essence of pain entwined with demonic anger and insanity. They especially get intense in “Slaves To The Slaughter” and “Sculptor Of Flesh”.
In 2005, this band blew me the fuck away. When I heard some bits from “Liberation”, and the self-titled demo, I was somewhat put off at first (even though I came to like this shit later). But then I heard “Beyond The Apocalypse” and that was when I was truly blown away. I would then listen to it over and over again. Then I heard the news that “Hellfire” was to be released near the end of the year. Believe me, I was waiting anxiously for this, almost sitting on my hands. I almost counted the days… how many days until this charcoal slab was to be pressed into my hands and into the nearest CD-friendly slot. And believe me, this is one unfriendly CD. That’s what makes it so friendly to my tastes.
This is somewhat different to the preceding album, “Beyond The Apocalypse”, which by the way was fucking brilliant. In terms of production, it’s significantly rougher. But not scuzzy and fuzzy-wuzzy bearish like “Liberation”. To take in the sound is like massaging your face with a roughly textured metal brick. A hot one, freshly taken from your local smelter. Wait, what am I talking about? It’s like trying to masturbate by rubbing your nudie bits on a rusty sculpture made of shrapnel. In the shape of a cock or vagina with many sharp jags jutting out. If you wanted something even more intense from 1349 than “Beyond…”, then you won’t be disappointed, my friend. Or are you my sworn enemy who I wanna tear the guts out of (fucking them afterwards)? Nevermind. This is the 1349 I quickly came to know and love, with so many new tricks to appreciate.
This is black metal, without a doubt, and like I said before, this is a primarily berserk and sombre essence of warfare. It also includes some degrees of thrashy and even punkish elements. “Sculptor Of Flesh” is a fucken rock and roll monster with a massive black penis. In other words, it is a thrash-oriented number laden with utterly blackened spirits. I don’t know why, but this song reminds me of a demonically possessed Red Hot Chilli Peppers squad. This is strange, even though this music is a lot like eating chillis at an Asian restaurant that actually is somewhere in Asia and is not watered down for us westerners to consume. This definitely has punk influences written all over it, while no less serving as a black shit efficiently dumped from the devil.
If you want songs that are more black metallish, then “I Am Abomination”, “Nathicana” and “Celestial Deconstruction” will be your most ideal numbers in this slab. There are some thrashy moments, but those are the tracks that lean more closely to the black. I didn’t forget the title track of course, which is devoid of the thrashy rhythms that were included in the rest of the album. I’ll get around to more details of this neck (more like a giraffe’s neck, considering how long it is) of “Hellfire” soon.
1349 is not just a blunt and barbaric beast, there is also some seriously epic shit involved. “Celestial Deconstruction”, for example, has a lot of stages to it. There are some fast and bludgeoning stages mixed with slow and atmospheric moments. Not to mention a mix of atmosphere with hyper-speed drums. This song depicts an epic onslaught upon the heavens, while the last minute and a half offers a visual of burning clouds and desecrated heavenly kingdoms falling to the ground. In a thrashy and blackened mode.
For those who think 1349 are too tr00 to use keyboards, well, they’re not. So fuck off to any of you whining purists with inverted crosses up your asses. They usually only use the keyboard stuff on their last tracks, like “Liberation”, “The Blade” and here on “Hellfire”. The title track here is 13 minutes and 49 seconds long. Gee I wonder why? This track is the longest, most sorrowful and epic shit that 1349 has ever done. And I salute them. The sound of flames licking my balls and the low-key keyboards (key-key-key… did that sound like a stutter?) sends a lot of despondent chills through my veins. When the black metal kicks in after 3 minutes, things don’t get any brighter. Oh no, golly fuck no! Near the end of this song, Ravn’s vocals are simply a sinister whisper. I think he did this before in “The Blade”, but here it’s a lot more sinister and vengeful. Hell, every syllable he has ever puked and whispered reeks of vengeful desires. This song may take a bit of patience to sit through, but it’s well worth it, I assure you. It’s a nice trip through hell and beyond. It’s one of the few “chilled out” tracks that 1349 has made in their dangerous career. As lengthy as this song is, it has a lot to offer for your black hearts.
And that isn’t the only “sad” song they have. “Nathicana” carries a sad vibe to it too, as it should, since it’s about the end of humanity by 3,000 AD. Not that we should be sad about that, because firstly, a species is gonna die at some stage, and secondly, yeah we’re all gonna die anyway. Would you prefer to listen to a band that sings about war? Or a band that actually sounds like total fucking war? If you prefer the latter, this album from a newish legendary band is your ideal companion.
9.5 fucking two-page long hellfire jets up the ass out of 10.
- Information
- Released: 2005
- Label: Candlelight Records
- Website: www.legion1349.com
- Band
- Ravn: vocals
- Tjalve: guitars
- Archaon: guitars
- Seidemann: bass
- Frost: drums
- Jonna Fyr Minion: keys and FX on “Hellfire”
- Tracklist
- 01. I Am Abomination
- 02. Nathicana
- 03. Sculptor Of Flesh
- 04. Celestial Deconstruction
- 05. To Rottendom
- 06. From The Deeps
- 07. Slaves To The Slaughter
- 08. Hellfire