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On disc: 1349



Liberation - Claudia Ehrhardt - 6 stars
Demonoir - Mike Thompson - 5 stars


www.legion1349.com







Demonoir

Demonoir
(Indie Recordings - 2010)


After the appalling Revelations Of The Black Flame, undoubtedly the let-down of 2009 in my opinion, 1349 have something to prove with this new offering.
The albums begins with Tunnel Of Set XI, which is one of a number of similarly titled short tracks on the album, before kicking off with Atomic Chapel. With this song 1349 aim to prove that they can still put out the face pounding black metal that was executed with such class on the magnificent Hellfire. The song isn't bad. Its nice to hear some proper black metal from this band and all the trademarks are there, from Ravn's hoarse vocals, the furious guitar work of Archaon and the precision drumming of Frost. Atomic Chapel isn't the best 1349 song you'll hear but its a step in the right direction.
Tunnel Of Set XII is another brief interlude between the tracks, this time using guitars to create the atmosphere. Throughout this album this is the one thing that bugged me. If you take away these pointless interludes you are left with six proper songs. These short instrumental pieces do nothing for the album experience and act as nothing except annoying sounds that force you to press skip.
Of the remaining songs fans will be happy to know that they are pure black metal 1349. Whilst none of the songs really stand up to the quality of earlier albums it is nice to hear 1349 going back to their roots. Not to say that these songs are bad, they're all perfectly good black metal that are pretty much what you would expect from this band.


5 stars

Mike Thompson
 

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Liberation

Liberation
(Candlelight Records - 2003)


The quintet rose from the ashes of Alvheim in 1997. Since that days 1349 had to face some line-up changes.
In spring 2000 it was time to record another demo, even if the previous ones never been released. They ask Frost to join them on drums for the recordings. The material which was written afterwards impressed Frost so much that he wanted to become a permanent member. Holycaust Records offered them a deal and released the promo as a mini-CD. Liberation is the first full-length album of the quintet. The band of shouter Ravn presents hyper­fast black metal. But not all songs try to break the speed of light! E.g. Riders Of The Apocalypse which is in my opinion the most intense song on the album, perhaps it would be better to leave the hyperfast sounds a little behind.... Death­march is just a small musical piece to connect 2 songs. Satanic Propaganda starts slowly in comparison with the other tracks, but then speeds up.
Fans of fast black metal get what they are longing for. Fans who are more into Cradle Of Filth, check it our first!


6 stars

Claudia Ehrhardt
 

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