Did you ever come across an album and upon listening to it, discover a number of interesting references from the very beginning? “The Wolf and The King” – the upcoming eighth full-length album from Norwegian black metal legends 1349 is among those treasures where you will be able to delve far below the surface and reach a stage where your senses will not only enjoy the primal and sinister black metal with savage thrash elements, but your mind will also be stimulated by the intelligently interwoven themes and philosophically delivered poetry.
I’ll start by saying that the title of the album is intriguing itself and even before the music begins there is already a special mood in the air – it is inspired by the classic alchemical allegory of 1617, depicted by Michael Maier in an allegorical drawing of the alchemical purification of gold. According to this allegorical work, a wolf devours a king. The wolf is then consumed by the pyre’s flames, and a new king rises from the ashes. Ravn himself is passionate about alchemy and shares that using various literary sources and his own practices, at some point he realizes that what we turn into gold is indeed our very essence – he realizes that this concept is actually about personal growth and development, for transcending oneself and one’s own capabilities, it is also about killing the ego and becoming aware of mortality and other human processes, but also about rising above all this and reaching the much larger territories of the unconscious. And in addition to the interesting title – since it is the band’s eighth full-length album, you will find many references in the cover itself and the lyrics to this very number – the number eight, which represents infinity. Try to follow this thread, I think you will find it interesting.
In eight tracks, clocking in at just under 40 minutes, you will be able to hear the classic sound of 1349, bringing mechanical precision of the drums (Frost in his ideal form), stocking cold riffs and catchier 80’s and 90’s melodies from the hands of the skilled Archaon, strong basslines from Seidemann and last but not least, dark, sinister and absolutely relentless vocals from Ravn. Interwoven into one, these elements deliver an album that is at once bloodthirsty, unwelcoming and hauntingly beautiful.
The track opens with the fire-breathing ‘The God Devourer’, setting the mood for the album with ferocious vocals, technical pulsating drums and slashing black metal and thrash riffs, the overall atmosphere undeniably bearing the whiff of an ancient majestic Apocalypse. And no wonder – the lyrics are based on the alchemical principle of absorbing and transforming everything that you feel is preventing you from becoming a better person.
The next track, “Ash of Ages”, combines thrash and other extreme elements with a fitting end-of-the-world theme, the song being based on a story Ravn came across some time ago, involving a layer of ash that covered the Earth 12,000 years ago , with the musician explaining about the reading: “This layer of ash comes from a meteorite that hit the Earth during the Ice Age. It melts much of the ice that causes the Great Flood. The Great Flood is mentioned in the Bible, but it was mentioned in every other ancient culture. The theory is that it washed away many other ancient cultures that had a higher level of intelligence than those discovered after the flood. So, it possibly set human civilization back many thousands of years.”
After that, “Shadow Point” arrives with its progressive weight, gradually speeding up the beat in a classic groove to become a true unbridled beast. In the song, the musicians make a reference to the star Algol of the constellation Perseus – one of the first known variable stars, whose name translates from Arabic as “The Demon”, and is quite often mentioned in a number of written sources.
If you’ve dabbled in 1349’s work before, you might already know what to expect from this new opus – throughout the length of the album, the instrumental storms out in a frenzied manner with its riffs flying from one extreme to the other, varying in style and tempo, with the addition of the double bass thickening the sound with a monolithic wall, joining the guitars and defiant drums in a way that makes the vocals sound even deeper and ominous, and the whole composition – antique, old-school and suggestive of a truer time. And while to the more unaccustomed ear it all sounds like a chaotic hurricane of disjointed melodies, it’s actually a highly tactful rabid predator waiting in the dark, and every note is exactly where it needs to be in order to attract you to another fatal trap.
Each of the album’s next five tracks hits in the form of a similarly uncompromising sonic assault of old-school black metal, bringing together the best of the 80s and early 90s. Short, tight compositions, gathering under their wing a collection of aggression, intensity, variety and sophistication, and at times a dose of more dramatic moments. But the most important thing about these pieces is actually something extremely simple that 1349 is well known for and is among the most important reasons why they are so appreciated – their primacy. Every word is inspired, every riff and drum beat is played with surgical precision and attacks relentlessly, every ferocious call is sent into space with an unrelenting fury ready to tear your soul apart, culminating in the bursting final track ‘Fatalist’, symbolizing liberation, transformation and rebirth.
“The Wolf and The King” is one of those traditional albums with vigor and beastly emotional charge that exudes majesty and at the same time bears the bloody marks of an impeccable raw attack on its gaping maw. Allegorical in its own way and inspiring, you can find a lot of food for thought in the work, aside from the excellent musical production and performance. 1349 arrive with confidence & blazing fire, entrusting you with another worthy opus!
Favorite songs: “Shadow Point”, “Inner Portal”, “Fatalist”
Band: 1349
Album: „The Wolf and The King“
Release Date: October 4th, 2024
Label: Season of Mist
Pre-order: https://orcd.co/1349thewolfandtheking
Mother of THE VOID.
Underground music is the ultimate weapon against mediocrity.
