Year: 2019
Time: 43:57
Label: Season Of Mist
Αfter α 5 years absence, Norway’s black metallers 1349 return with a new album. They are a band that I think they gained more attention for the fact that Satyr (SATYRICOΝ) is their drummer than the quality of their releases. Besides the “Hellfire” album, which is a masterpiece of brutality, the rest of their releases are not something special. So, for “The Infernal Pathway” expectations were not very high anyway. Earlier this year 1349 released “Dødskamp” and “Through Eyes of Stone” EP’s with new songs included showing us a turn to a softer sound let alone the tracks were not anything special.
My suspicion about their sound changes were confirmed when the first song “Abyssos Antithesis” begun with a classic American thrash riff which made me double-check to make sure I actually listen to 1349 or I may have accidentally put some thrash band on the player. The album flows in the same thrash/black style with blastbeats and all the time I had the feeling that I am listening to AURA NOIR as their sound change is quite drastic. 1349 have reached their seventh album and they have also signed with a new company, so I believe it was their decision to reshape their sound. Their rhythms remain blistering but softer than their past records and the combination with the well clear production makes them more accessible to the average listener.
“The Infernal Pathway” is a decent blackened thrash album. And now that AURA NOIR are over, 1349 can make a worthy replacement, if of course they continue in the same musical direction. As in the past, in this new album, 1349 do not manage to exceed their musical capabilities, but their new paths make them sound quite refreshed.
Rating: 6,5/10
Nikos Manousis
Related Link: 1349 – Official Page
