[ Bands ] [ Fotos ] [ Management ] [ Tourdaten ] [ News ] [ Specials ] [ Links ] [ Kontakt ] Startseite > > Bands > > Alte Promo > > 1349 Fotos Hellfire 1349 www.legion1349.com Info: 1349 rose from the ashes of Alvheim in 1997, with Ravn (vocals & drums), Tjalve (guitars), Seidemann (bass) and Balfori (guitars). They recorded, but never released a demo in early '98. Balfori quit shortly after due to musical differences. In '99 they recorded the never released promo "Chaos Preferred". By then, the band realised they needed another guitarist and found Archaon whose speed and technique took their music to a new level of intensity and brutality. Come spring 2000, 1349 decided to record a new promo showcasing their new material and Frost of Satyricon was asked to lay down the drums tracks to get the speed required. Frost was later so impressed by the new material that he asked to join 1349 as a permanent member. Holycaust Records offered them a deal and released the new promo as an eponymous MiniCD. By early 2001, the band felt they had enough killer songs for a full-length album - 'Liberation'. Recorded and mixed at Gordon Studios, 'Liberation' blended old school soundscapes with modern warp-speed hysteria. In the wake of such yet unreleased but unforgiving material, 1349 supported Gorgoroth, Cadaver Inc. and later performed at the 'Hole in the Sky' festival in Bergen in 2001 as well as the Inferno Festival in Oslo in 2002. After signing a new deal with Candlelight Records, 'Liberation' was released in April 2003. That year was when 1349 began to reap the fruits of their dark labour - their debut album received critical and public acclaim and several magazines hailed the band as The Newcomer of the Year. They were rebooked to play Oslo-based Inferno Festival and Germany's high profile, With Full Force where they shared the stage with such high calibre bands as Zyklon, My Dying Bride and Moonspell. Their first European tour with compatriots Aeternus and Red Harvest in November ended the year on a high for 1349. No rest for the wicked, however and only a month after they returned from the tour, the band entered Studio Studio Nyhagen to record the follow-up to 'Liberation'. Released by Candlelight Records in April of the following year, 'Beyond the Apocalypse' helped 1349 secure their quality old school black metal reputation. On top of touring Europe with Gorgoroth in the fall of 2004, 1349 performed at Aalborg Metal Fest in Denmark, Nihil Extreme Music Festival in Italy and Arnhem Metal Meeting in the Netherlands as well as the Hole In The Sky, Maane and Working Class Hero Festivals in Norway. 'Hellfire', the band's third album, recorded at Studio Studio Nyhagen in the course of 2005, is their most powerful musical offering so far. 1349 have refined their highly reputed sound into audible hellfire. Hell no longer awaits- it is here! Terrorizer - Review: 1349 ‘Hellfire’ CANDLELIGHT There are some that say Norway has nothing left to offer the world of BM, with most of their original bands no longer existing and the remaining few, such as Mayhem, Satyricon etc now producing material which strays further and further from the original blueprint until many would argue that it is no longer truly black metal at all. 1349 don’t share this opinion, and neither does the machine gun they’re pointing at your face. Hellfire is as vicious an offering as anyone could have requested, yet it doesn’t fall into the cesspool of self-imitation and turgid mediocrity that many acts fall foul of. From the first moment of ‘I Am Abomination’, the listener is assaulted with unrestrained force by the combination of Frost’s masterful percussion, Ravn’s bile-filled vocal torrent and the band’s lashing whip-like guitar onslaught. Making one thing very clear: Hellfire was never meant to be a nice album. However, it isn’t the primitive, rabid fury that makes this album stand out from many of its peers. What makes Hellfire such an important record is the skilful way in which the band have merged the merciless vomiting of hatred into something more whole, more calculated. ‘Sculptor Of Flesh’ bears more than a passing resemblance to the classic BM of Norway’s past, with its more traditional arrangements and percussive, Darkthrone-esque riffs, while the following track ‘Celestial Deconstruction’ injects the album with a hyper-modern dose of sterile, ambient dissonance. In effect, 1349 have created a spectacularly sinister half-breed; the rotting, undead cadaver of orthodox BM has been enhanced through the sterile precision and experimentation of modern BM. The most impressive feat is that the whole album, from start to finish, has its feet firmly planted on the barren soil of BM, despite its experimental leanings. Not once does ‘Hellfire’ stray so far that you begin to question its direction, but it simply shows an understanding and appreciation of BM in all its forms. Hellfire is as necro as it is techno, featuring both spine-chilling, hate filled dynamics and a rich sense of atmosphere and calculated darkness. Supremely evil. [9] IAN FINLEY [ Promotion ] [ Publishing ] [BILD] [BILD]