1349 – The Wolf and The King
Release Date: 4th October 2024
Label: Season of Mist
Bandcamp
Genre: Black Metal
FFO: Marduk, Watain, Taake, Dark Funeral, Gorgoroth, Satyricon.
Review By: Rick Farley
The menacingly “trve” and infernal black metal band hailing from Norway, 1349 rises its fiery head once more to ensure that the original dark spirit of second wave black metal stays alive and well. Named after the year the black plague made its way to the shores of Norway, 1349 maintains the legacy of energetic black metal through wicked primal emotions, keeping the grimness and unnerving atmosphere intact which still completely bewitches metal heads everywhere.
A brief introduction to 1349 for those of you that’s just now discovering this band. Formed in 1997 by vocalist Ravn who recruited bassist Seidemann and now former guitarist Tjalve to help recapture the original vision of black metal in its purest form. Ravn had grown tired of seeing Norwegian black metal steering away from its founders’ original vision, so he sought out bandmates that shared his sentiment towards bringing back the trademark sound of the early nineties. The band went on to have various line-up changes over the years to finally find its current line-up initially pieced together in 2001, which consists of Ravn, Seidemann, guitarist Archaon and drummer Frost of Satyricon fame. 2024 brings us up to date with their studio release of The Wolf and The King unleashing its hellfire on October 24, 2024, via Season of Mist.
The title The Wolf and The king is taken from a classic alchemical allegory: A wolf devours a king, then the wolf is devoured by flames, only to have a new king arise from the ashes. Ravn goes on to explain, metaphorically, it’s about personal development.
“We must kill our egos to grow as people, if you do not do that, you will die and without rising from the ashes.”
The Wolf and The king while being ferocious in all its black metal glory does come off as playing it a little safe. Not that it’s really a bad thing, the band defiantly stay in their lane, keeping the integrity of their sound exactly as they see it. If you’re familiar with the band or second wave black metal for that matter, you already know that this will sound basically the way you would expect it to sound and for those of you that are new to this band, I would start with 2005’s Hellfire album. Pure fucking high energy, sickening black metal. That’s not to say that The Wolf and The king is bad because that is clearly not the case. Even safe 1349 is still pretty damn good.
Tracks like lead single Ash of Ages is thrashy black metal with an unnerving evil aura about it. Guitars twisting and turning from jagged riffs to blistering tremolo picked nightmare fuel. Drummer Frost executes his percussion with a reckless precision and a primordial energy that’s infectious as well as flesh punishing. The vocals from Ravn are intensely growly and raspy but still near decipherable.
Track three, Shadow Point, kicks off with a clean guitar passage that leads to a build-up of headbanging fury and sick blast beats. The track takes very little time to completely go off and cleave your head clean off with horrendous intensity. It cleverly snakes its way jarringly from riff to riff to keep the listener off balance and disoriented. At times blackened hookiness and others total musical chaos.
That basically sums up how 1349 sounds. “Trve” to a fault, extremely enjoyable while being nastily jarring. Second wave black metal, at its core, that doesn’t give a fuck about anything else. Check this out.
(3.5 / 5)
