1349 – Demonoir CD
Indie Recordings
No shit there I was at our local venue of all things metal, Volume 11 Tavern, watching 1349 on stage going blackened insane. This was back in 2008 when they were the “out of their element” act on tour with the reformed CARCASS. My friend Big Jon was standing next to me when after a few songs he grabs me by the shoulders and screams in my face, “Why didn’t you tell me this band was great?” Well I told him that they’re black metal and he doesn’t care too much for bands of that genre. I think he bought everything they had for sale that night except a t-shirt. Thankfully he didn’t have to endure last years Revelations of the Black Flame like I did. Let me put it another way, when I came up with my list for the Scumfeast Metal 666 favorite black metal releases of 2009 that one was not even considered. I remember reading some pre-release interviews with the band where they were saying some fans might not like the progressive direction they were taking. BULLSHIT! Frost wasn’t even on half the album since he was busy with his own band SATYRICON and that pathetic OV HELL. The damm thing was an EP’s worth of 1349 and the rest was filler.
So here’s the new one and wow that was fairly quick. Maybe all those bad reviews and half ass pro ones scared 1349 back into the studio. Well after listening to Demonoir I’m here to say that there’s still no joy in black mudville tonight. Hang onto your copy of Hellfire real tight, grin sinisterly and bare it. Demonoir is more like looking for a few strands of hay in a stack of needles. Sure there are some choice cuts on here but the blood is running a bit thin. If you take away all the intros and ambient tracks off of Demonoir, which is half the fuckin CD, it’s still mediocre for what this band has previously done. If I really want to insult them then I’d say they sound more and more like a Swedish black metal act. Right now there are a dozen ashen faced long hairs at an airport in Norway buying one way tickets to the US in order to hunt me down for that one.
1349 were once considered heirs to the great tradition of true Norwegian black metal but now seem to be just coasting along hoping to stay relevant. I mentioned Hellfire as their high water mark and to me it is. It was like four lunatics walking out on stage in a crowded hall but instead of instruments they’re armed with automatic weapons and proceed to spray the room with hot lead wasting everyone. Actually that sounds more like what a bunch of leftist Berlin terrorists from the 1980s would do and no I don’t condone that. Well let me think about that one again. I’ll get back with ya. But if there’s one redeeming thing I could say about this release is that I got the limited version which has a second CD containing cover songs of BAUHAUS, EXODUS and MORBID ANGEL. 1349 ruins every fuckin cut but ain’t that just the way of things nowadays.
www.indierec.no
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