CoC : 1349 - Hellfire : Review

1349 - _Hellfire_
(Candlelight Records, 2005)
by: Jackie Smit (8 out of 10)

Amidst claims that they've vaulted their music into bleaker territories comes 1349's next full-length, their third in as many years. While the workman-like pace at which the band have been releasing records may indicate otherwise, _Hellfire_ is by no means a rush-job. On the contrary, not only do songs like "Celestial Deconstruction" show off a darker, more brooding 1349 than at any time previously, but this time round the guitar-work also takes several steps in a decidedly more technical direction, consistently going toe-to-toe with Satyricon sticksman Frost's typically phenomenal drumming. There are drawbacks to this, as not only will purists balk at the almost death metal-like riffing of "To Rottendom", but the gritty production causes the album's myriad faster sections to sound more like full-blown havoc than anything else on a few occasions. The flipside to this is that by contrast the haunting grooves that randomly scythe their way through the album's slower moments deliver an even greater pay-off; and although the record's first track struggles to make headway into anything significant, by the time the band have torn into "Nathicana", _Hellfire_ has hit a misanthropic stride from which it rarely deviates. Not quite at the same level as Gehenna's last disc then, but a suitably violent and poignant slab of black metal nonetheless.

Contact: http://www.legion1349.com

(article published 17/10/2005)

CHATS
1/31/2008	J Smit	1349: Mental Mercury

ALBUMS
5/21/2009	J Smit	6	1349 - Revelations of the Black Flame
10/27/2003	P Azevedo	8	1349 - Liberation

GIGS
3/29/2015	P Schwarz	1349	Trigger the Boredom
9/20/2006	T DePalma	Celtic Frost / 1349	Congregation of the Wicked
12/7/2005	J Smit	Gorgoroth / 1349	Twlight of the (Black Metal) Idols