Remaining pure to the ideal and the sounds of true Norwegian black metal, 1349 since 1997 have ignored the expansion and the dilution of the term black metal. Their sound is merciless and raw yet brimming with talent. Aptly named the year the black death arrived in Norway their eighth grand Opus The Wolf and the King is an unforgiving assault the stalwarts of the genre are famous for.
The Wolf and the King can be described in one word…blistering. The pace is frenetic bordering on the violent. The Vessel and The Storm captures this brilliantly, its wild and crazed yet loyal to its roots of being an utterly honest black metal record with flourishes of real metal and some great dynamics to create music that never stops moving and truly born of hatred. The excellent production captures the essence of grimness and vitriol excellently. It is a malevolent storm set to throbbing bass and Hellenic percussion that is riddled with tempos and dynamics Courtesy of Frost. Any mid-tempo gives way to a cataclysm as Inner Portal and Inferior Pathways display. They assault the senses, tracks that hurl themselves headlong into the abyss, full of excellent riffing and cold precision and pure black metal ethos. “Ashes of Ashes” contains some elements of thrash whilst Shadow Point drips in raw atmosphere and the inexorable march to oblivion.
Ending with the faithful and appropriately titled Fatalist a the more of the unhinged solos and breakneck speed that the band is famous for, it is a timely reminder that extreme music is for the devout and the like-minded, The Wolf and The King is pure 1349 and True Norwegian second wave black metal, Grim unforgiving and utterly uncompromising.
1349: Facebook
Release Year: 2024
Label: Season of Mist
Category: Album
Country: Norway
Reviewed by Sparky
