1349 - Beyond the Apocalypse
Candlelight
Black Metal
9 songs (47:32)
Release year: 2004
1349, Candlelight
Reviewed by Daniel

Those familiar to the world of Black Metal know that right now the genre could be divided into two major sections: the one which has bands that are trying to evolve and that move away enough from the “roots” to create a new sound; and the bands that stay “true” to the genre, thing that as I said in the last Nargaroth review, isn’t necessarily bad; actually it can be good but if done correctly.

1349 definitely belongs in the second group; although they more or less have their own style, it’s clear that their intention was to create an album in the raw Norwegian Black Metal way, but I must say they actually succeeded in creating an excellent one, with enough stuff to keep it interesting.

As said above, the music in the album is raw Black Metal but they manage to keep it quite fresh with the excellent riffing, which includes some nice mixes of tremolo picking, palm muted galloping riffs, and some great technical stuff thrown here and there, like in the amazing speedy run at the end of Beyond the Apoclypse. The drums are amazing, thing that was more than expected from one of my all time favorite drummers; for those who missed a more brutal edge in Frost’s drumming in the latest Satyricon album, Volcano, you should try any of 1349’s releases, they feature excellent brutal performances by this drum prodigy. Ravn once again handles the vocals and I must say there’s nothing special here, just plain run of the mill aggressive Black Metal vocals; not bad just nothing particularly interesting in his voice. And no, there are no keyboards here, but then again this is far from being symphonic Black Metal; this is aggressive, many times brutal Black Metal.

Those who where thrown away from the band’s previous release, Liberation, because of the raw productions should find the one in this album way more accessible; it manages to sound quite clear and in general it fits the band nicely; the drums are a bit high in the mix, but in this case it is something I like; when the drummer is as good as Frost, you just can’t complaint, you can listen to every single beat this guy does; plus this production makes the band sound more powerful, more brutal.

Anyway, 1349 has released one of the best Norwegian Black Metal albums of the year, along with Enslaved and Darkthrone; but nothing that’ll change the world.

If the previous 1349 release didn’t make it for you, try again here, with the improved production and great songs in this one, it may be possible that you recover interest in this band, and who knows, maybe it will even open the doors for you to enjoy the previous one. Those of you who love 1349 will undoubtedly love this one as well, unless of course, you are one of those “kvlt” guys who think better production equals worse music; and for the Black Metal fan that for some strange reason didn’t knew this band existed, well, now you know there's something quite good out there that you're missing.

Killing Songs :
Beyond the Apocalypse, Aiwas Aeon, and Singer of Strange Songs.
Daniel quoted 83 / 100
Other albums by 1349 that we have reviewed:
1349 - Massive Cauldron of Chaos reviewed by Goat and quoted 65 / 100
1349 - Demonoir reviewed by Goat and quoted 88 / 100
1349 - Revelations Of The Black Flame reviewed by Goat and quoted 62 / 100
1349 - Hellfire reviewed by Alex and quoted 85 / 100
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