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/:: Artist :: 1349 ::\
:: Album :: The Wolf & the King ::
:: Year :: 2024 ::
:: __ _ _ __ ::
-:--\\-----------------------------------------------------------------//--:-
:: \ / ::
:: . Genre :: Black Metal Source :: CD . ::
:: Label :: Black Metal Store R.date :: 2025-05-02 ::
_::__ Cat.nr. :: BMS136 S.date :: 2024-10-04 __::_
::// \\::
::/---------------------------------------------------------------------\::
:: ::
/: Encoder :: LAME 3.100 -V0 :\
..: Bitrate :: avg. 280kbps :..
. Quality :: 44.1 kHz/Joint Stereo .
. Size :: 81.53 MB .
. .
__ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __
.\\\\------- : | ---\ /---------------------\ /--- | : -------////.
+/ -\------- | | ----\ tracklist /---- | | -------/- \+
/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: 1. The God Devourer 5:10 ::
:: 2. Ash of Ages 5:27 ::
:: 3. Shadow Point 3:39 ::
:: 4. Inferior Pathways 4:28 ::
:: 5. Inner Portal 5:08 ::
:: 6. The Vessel and the Storm 5:14 ::
:: 7. Obscura 3:44 ::
:: 8. Fatalist 5:51 ::
:: ::
:: ::
:: ------- ::
.. >> 38:41 ..
__ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __
.\\\\------- : | ---\ /---------------------\ /--- | : -------////.
+/ -\------- | | ----\ release notes /---- | | -------/- \+
/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: ::
:: The world is moving so fast these days and so many things are ::
:: changing rapidly. Sometimes it's dizzying. Luckily, one thing ::
:: that hasn't changed, however, is Norway's 1349. Their latest ::
:: opus from the grim and frostbitten North is entitled The Wolf ::
:: and the King and it's exactly what you've come to expect from ::
:: these masters of the macabre. ::
:: ::
:: Black metal, in more recent years, has morphed and mutated into ::
:: a wealth of different varietals. No longer delegated to the ::
:: confines of Scandinavia, music in the genre has presented ::
:: itself in a significant number of different avatars. These ::
:: might fall under the labels blackgaze, black 'n' roll, ::
:: symphonic and so on. 1349, on the other hand, is none of those. ::
:: Having cut their teeth back in 1997, their brand of true ::
:: Norwegian black metal was built on blistering speed and filth. ::
:: They never looked back. ::
:: ::
:: The Wolf and the King, picks up just where 2019's The Infernal ::
:: Pathway left off. Think of it as a back-to-basics black metal ::
:: that will remind listeners of the particularly dirty and rugged ::
:: sound of the early 1990's (thankfully though, with better ::
:: production). Vocalist Ravn tells us, "I didnÆt like the ::
:: direction that black metal took in the mid part of the Æ90sàIt ::
:: started losing everything that I liked about black metalùthe ::
:: grimness, the eeriness, the primal emotions that captivated me ::
:: and brought me into that sphere. You had all these ::
:: synthesizer-based bands dressing up in pirate shirts and ::
:: looking like goths. It ruined something that I truly hold close ::
:: to my heart." ::
:: ::
:: The Wolf and the King, as a concept for the title, comes from ::
:: the world of alchemy. The story goes that the wolf devours the ::
:: king, the wolf is then devoured by flames and a new king rises ::
:: from the ashes. The band views this a metaphor for personal ::
:: development and being the best you can be. Without this, the ::
:: individual doesn't grow, but rather dies and never gets arisen ::
:: from the ashes. ::
:: ::
:: "Inner Portal" is a signature 1349 track, with a ridiculous ::
:: amount of double bass at the feet of drummer extraordinaire ::
:: Frost (Satyricon). There is some nuance, however, as well, with ::
:: some interesting time changes and different vocal styles from ::
:: the throat of Ravn. ::
:: ::
:: "Ash of Ashes" is a thrashy cut with lots of speed and massive ::
:: riffs. The song itself is about the story of a layer of ash ::
:: that covered the earth some 12,000 years ago. The ash, it is ::
:: believed, comes from a meteorite that struck the earth during ::
:: the Ice Age. Ravn tells us, "It melted a lot of the ice, which ::
:: is where the Great Flood came from. The Great Flood is in the ::
:: Bible, but it was written about in every ancient culture. The ::
:: theory is that it washed away a lot of other ancient cultures ::
:: that held a higher intelligence level than those that were ::
:: found after the flood. So, it possibly set human civilization ::
:: back many thousands of years." ::
:: ::
:: "Shadow Point" is classic 1349 and harkens back to the band's ::
:: more recent work on records like Massive Cauldron of Chaos as ::
:: well as the Infernal Pathway. The song is about two stars ::
:: revolving around each other with the smaller one consuming the ::
:: larger one. ::
:: ::
:: Other cuts like "Fatalist," and the somewhat groovy album ::
:: opener "The God Devourer" are going to endear any long time ::
:: 1349 right from the first listen. ::
:: ::
:: The Wolf And The King is a record with no surprises. It's pure ::
:: 1349 and pure black metal the way it was meant to be. Mixed and ::
:: recorded by longtime collaborator Jarrett Pritchard, this ::
:: newest LP will undoubtedly scratch the itch. ::
:: ::
:: . _ _ . ::
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