With over twenty years under its bullet-adorned belt, the progression of Norwegian black metal has been a tempestuous one, to say the least. As the musical incarnation of Rosemary's baby, through its turbulent, angst-ridden, emo-driven teenage years, to its current uber-refined state, the effect of its expression has been felt in every corner of the metal world - with no one sub-genre being untouched by the influence of both its art and inherent message. Not unlike the four horseman of the apocalypse, those primitive days saw the likes of Mayhem, Darkthrone, Immortal, and Burzum blaze a trail of death and destruction across the cold, dark, unforgiving Nordic sky. Like so many others who bore witness to this prophetic fire-in-the-sky, Tor Risdal "Seidemann" Stavenes took heed and joined his cloaked brothers in the war against the conventional, conservative, and religiously archaic ways of the country that he calls home. With the formation and solidification of his unit, aptly named 1349, Seidemann picked up his bass and marched to the front lines... his battle had only just begun.

"Norwegian black metal started out as a counter-reaction to the over-saturated death metal scene and an expression of discontent and anger towards Christianity," explains the bassist. By the time 1349 started we felt that black metal had come round full circle and had become flooded with mediocrity - going off in what we felt was the wrong direction. However, we knew that we needed to go forward while looking backwards. We took what we felt was the essence of black metal - from the great old ones (Darkthrone, Mayhem, Burzum, Celtic Frost, Hellhammer) - and did our best to make this our own. Merely recreating darkness is not enough; we needed to create our very own brand. I really have no idea what our impact on the genre as a whole is since I'm alive doing the music I want to do right now. When I am dead, and 1349 is gone, then people can look back and see if we had an impact. For me, very few bands have a great impact apart from the founders and the ones that take it beyond. We have done the albums we wanted to do, when we wanted to do them, and we have always made albums that we think are better than the previous ones and are 100% 1349. That is our path, and it is not over yet."

With several years of intensive study, honing its intellectual chops in the most prestigious of institutions, Norwegian black metal has earned its well-deserved masters degree of its field - with bands such as Satyricon leading the charge into a world where the mainstream has become increasingly accepting of this once reviled genre. As a Norwegian first, and then a black metal musician, I broached Seidemann about the acceptance of his chosen genre by the country that birthed, and later rejected, both he and his art.

"The people who once scoffed at the long-haired and corpse-painted still do," answers Seidemann, with a hint of disdain. "Black metal isn't mainstream, and it's definitely not big business. After twenty years most people still think what we do is just satanic racket without tune or rhythm. To be honest, I am happy that I no longer get stopped by the police, have my phone tapped, get shouted at in the street, or get passed over for jobs because I play black metal. Some people now actually think what I do is some sort of music instead of devil worship. Conditions for black metal musicians have improved and thus we get to bring our music on the road."

 

 

Satyricon, Enslaved, and Dimmu Borgir have certainly made inroads with the highbrow of amongst Norway's artistic and cultured. Like it or not, non-metalheads are becoming increasingly turned on to the cacophony, imagery, and message of black metal. Has this closed the gates on individualism, and perhaps opened the floodgates to mediocrity and cultural cannibalism?

"Black metal was always been about individualism and doing what you want to do," clarifies Tor. "Notice how Darkthrone sounds nothing like Immortal - sounds nothing like Mayhem? The genre will plod on regardless of what individual acts do. For each act going somewhere unique and interesting there will be a million mediocre acts doing nothing."

Massive Cauldron Of Chaos (the band's sixth, and latest, studio album) immediately stands-out from its predecessors, delivering a much thrashier and dirtier affair. This isn't to say that 1349 are jumping on the thrash bandwagon, as MCOC retains that grim, wholly-Nordic vibe they are known for. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I would date this album to around the mid-90s, alongside venerable albums of the time from Satyricon, Immortal, and Dissection. It is classic in tone and ambiance, but not at the expense of evil.

"Yes, along those lines Massive Cauldron Of Chaos definitely has a strong sense of groove and a 70's vibe lurking in the depths, but the trash is there along with the death and black. We strive to always make sure that a 1349 album is instantly recognizable as such, and I'm confident that we have succeeded in that task."

 

 

For the more erudite of connoisseurs, you will likely pick-up on the noticeable lack of the darker/ambient/moody stuff that 1349 has been known to delve into head-first (anyone remember 2010's Revelation of the Black Flame? Yeah, I thought not). Anyway, this change of pace is most certainly welcome, particularly at a time when this stuff permeates the genre (e.g. Lurker Of Chalice, Darkspace, Leviathan etc). I ask Seidemann if we will ever see something akin to Revelations Of The Black Flame?

"Revelations was our fourth album and was needed at the time to show that we were not just a one trick blastbeat pony. We decided to take the things that had always been in the background and bring them right to the forefront. It was a move that alienated a lot of people but, for us, it felt right and we did it anyway. After that we felt it was time to move on, and so we have. We never try to do the same album twice."