1349

DEMONOIR

Indie Recordings

I was introduced to 1349 the summer of 2006 with the Hellfire album. A well produced norwegian black metal album that stars the legendary Frost on drums. They gained a great recognition with the record and I can honestly say that they are also a massive live band. They have the basic black metal costumes on stage; covered in corpsepaint, singer who always wears his ripped Hellhammer t-shirt and of course alot of smoke throughout the whole set. Well then. There was a great expectation for next album, Revelation of the Black Flame(2009) but unfortunately it wasn´t as good as their last albums. The main difference was adding dark ambience into their work with not so much of a success. If you are expecting a blasting black metal album with fast drums and evil riffs, you get dissappointed and you get tired of listening because of all the ambient instrumental songs.
But there was still hope for the future of 1349. Demonoir reached into the black light in may this year. Before the release they announced that they had worked really hard on the album with a help from Hellhammer/Celtic Frosts, Tom G. „Warrior“ and the result is, in my opinion, an excellent piece of work. Starting with a intro that leads to the „Atomic Chapel“ a catchy, fast song, especially when it slows down very early in the track, 0:37. It´s a special atmosphere, like entering hell. I can also mention When I was Flesh, a fast song with blast beats – classic 1349 song. Overall it´s a good album that leaves positive marks - but the only thing that drags the album down are the ambient instrumentals, „Tunnel of Set XII-XVII“. Anyway, Demonoir is a unique black metal album that´s worth listening to and stands out as one of the finest albums of the year.

4/5

BY GUNNAR ÖRN RUNÓLFSSON