Archive for the ‘1349’ Category

Deryk Thomas’ Top 10 Albums of 2014

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2014

Deryk Thomas of RTRFM’s Critical Mass counts down the year’s best in the world of doom, death and thrash metal.

10. SCAR SYMMETRY — The Singularity: Phase I
SS have always released razor sharp futuristic melodic metal, but this is the next step up. It flows well, and cant wait to hear the other chapters.

9. DECAPITATED — Blood Mantra
A fair bit of the technical stuff has gone, in favour of more straight ahead fast paced modern death metal. Great album considering what they’ve been through in recent years.

8. VOYAGER — V
The best album they’ve done. A real coming of age for the band, like Scott Bishop has pointed out, they’ve figured out how to combine heavy metal sounds with the melodic stuff.

7. AT THE GATES — At War With Reality
At The Gates are back in the studio. Lots of anticipation for this one being one of the top picks for the year. Yeah, it probably is, but it’s a bit ho-hum in the back half of the album. Six other albums were better than it.

6. 1349 — Massive Cauldron of Chaos
A late comer for black metal release of the year. Better production and more adventurous elements to vocals have set this one apart from previous releases.

5. ELECTRIC WIZARD — Time To Die
Jus Osborn, tour Australia already damnit.

4. WORMWOOD — Wormwood
There was a glut of new releases that hit our inboxes recently on Critical Mass, this is one that stood out. It’s the guys out of Doomriders doing a visceral take on doom and sludge. This is an EP. Now this is the first time I’ve bent the rules a little to include a non-full length because A) it’s awesome and B) it’s not exactly a bumper year for heavy metal releases.

3. ANIMALS AS LEADERS — The Joy Of Motion
If you haven’t heard this one yet, reward yourself. Combines djent metal with jazz fusion instrumental stuff. Gets stuck more in your head with each listen and that’s the sign of a “top” album. Saw them at Amps a while back and have been a fan ever since.

2. MASTODON — Once More Round The Sun
Mastodon are the best at what they do. Never got sick of this album since its release. I reckon I listen to it every week or two.

1. TOMBS — Savage Gold
This was always gonna be a contender, and it just grabs you straight away. Primal post-metal riffs and pounding drums. Very basic in approach, every post is a winner on this album.

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Anger Management: 1349

Wednesday, November 5th, 2014

Every fortnight, we check in with all things heavy on RTRFM’s Critical Mass show.

Norwegian blasters 1349 are back with a new slab of scintillating, head-milling blast beats and riffs under the banner of Massive Cauldron of Chaos.

It’s fair to say that the last couple of albums have been hit and miss for this band, so when the new album found its way into the clutches of the Critical Mass team, there wasn’t quite the same degree of excitement when compared to the Hellfire days.

But right from the outset of this one, it’s all systems go with a style reminiscent of earlier albums with more superior production removing some of that milo tin drum sounds that “plague” (pun intended) some black metal bands.

Fun Fact – 1349 was the year of the black plague in Norway.

The buzzsaw-tuned guitars wind its way through the 8 MCoC tracks with distinction. The thrashy approach to traditional black metal is enhanced with some interesting vocal techniques employed by Ravn with his tried and true raspy style mixing in measured doses with haunting whispers, shrieks and echoed effects, which has taken him to the next level vocal wise.

The songwriting contributions appear to be shared among the members including everyone’s favourite Norwegian drummer Frost. Some of the solo’s sound a little dodgy, but its best moments are the middle section of the album.

For fans of Gorgoroth, Mayhem, early Satyricon, 1927.

Critical Mass airs every Wednesday from 9PM (GMT+8) on RTR FM 92.1 in Perth, Australia.

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