Album Review: 1349 - Winter Mass
Reviewed by Dan Barnes
Formed in Oslo back in 1997 and taking the name from the year the plague ravaged Norway, 1349 is perhaps the most consistent, though under-rated, band in the Black Metal movement. Having released a couple of demos before the turn of the millennium, a self-titled EP in 2001 and the albums Liberation and Beyond the Apocalypse in 2003 and 2004 respectively, it was the third full-length, Hellfire, issued in 2005, that really brought the band to wider attention.
Since then, 1349 have been ever-present on the stages and festivals of Europe, yet do not seem to have dipped their toes into the in-concert recording beyond the Works of Fire, Forces of Hell bonus disc on the Revelation of the Black Flame CD and the excellent official bootleg DVD Hellvetia Fire released in 2011.
Better late than never, and the band finally commercial issue a live album, recorded just after lockdown was lifted at Oslo’s historic five-hundred capacity Parktreatet theatre. Entitled Winter Mass this thirteen-track journey through the band’s history is an hour of trve Norwegian black metal rage.
Opening with the atmospheric dissonance of Enter Inferno, the set quickly drops into the merciless riffs and blistering drums of Sculptor of Flesh. The recorded version of this on Hellfire features dual guitars, but here Archaon is left alone to recreate the distinctive patterns, managing it like someone who’d done it a thousand times before.
Frost is not considered the best drummer in the genre for no reason, and his blitzkrieg delivery through the Massive Cauldron of Chaos material in particular being notable. Slaves thrashes like speed metal, while Cauldron’s unsettling opening is disrupted by a cacophonous blast, and Golem does not have the pretence of subtlety.
Bassist Seidemann is the unsung hero as he bridges the gap between percussion and strings, creating his own formidable presence on the oozing, Celtic Frost feel to Revelation of the Black Flame’s Serpentine Sibilance, and Demonoir’s classically infused Atomic Chapel.
At the point the world went to shit in 2020, 1349’s most recent record, The Infernal Pathway had only been out a matter of months, and its touring cycle had barely begun. No surprise then that four of that album’s songs make it onto Winter Mass, showcasing a band who have never been afraid to experiment with their sound and try new ways to manifest evil. Through the Eyes of Stone and Striding the Chasm were both promotional singles pre-empting the release of the album, so already had a familiarity with the fans. Other single, Dødskamp is perhaps the most Heavy Metal the band get and the closing track, Abyssos Antithesis demonstrates 1349 still have miles to go in their deep dive into the Black Metal genre.
Vocalist Ravn’s pipes are some of the most recognisable in the scene and his rendition of Chasing Dragons, the earliest song on offer here, and the stone-cold classic of I Am Abomination cement the singer’s place in the wider black metal pantheon. As with all his performances, Ravn’s rasps are never anything other than demonic and otherworldly.
Nothing from Liberation made it into the set, which means there’s no official live version of Riders of the Apocalypse, beyond the DVD. A small niggle as anything issued by 1349 is extremely welcome and, listening to Winter Mass, it reminded me that it’s been far too long since I witnessed the band’s blasphemy in the flesh myself. Hopefully will get to rectify that soon.
