1349
Hellfire

THE REVIEW

Evil. UH!

Third work by the Norwegians 1349 (the year the black plague broke out in their land), "Hellfire" (2005) is the indisputable proof of the definitive maturity of the band led by Ravn. A suffocating album that combines the sick speed of "Liberation" with the intricate riffing of "Beyond The Apocalypse". In simple terms? An exaggerated, crazy album that grips you in its coils and never lets go. When you listen to it, you have to concentrate exclusively on its notes, feel the music burning your guts. An album to have a physical impact with, which will prove to be devastating, and when it's done you'll have received so many scorching kicks in the ass that you won't even understand where you are anymore, dazed and with tattered clothes.

"Hellfire!": this is the battle cry that begins the opening track, "I Am Abomination". As soon as Frost's mashing drums kick in, you'll be overwhelmed and stunned by its killer speed, and you'll find yourself in the midst of an infernal assault, with horses galloping madly, spurred on by Ravn's fiery-eyed screams. You'll then want to reach for the stop button, press it, save yourself from the scorching heat, but you can’t: Tjalve's distorted guitar will lay you out, like a hammer blow to the nape. And it's just the first track. Here's a tip for you, if you have a sister or brother (and if so, condolences) who listens to Spears, the Blue, and other such "nice" company, play a nice trick on them by secretly replacing this nice disc with the one in their stereo, and ENJOY watching them collapse to the ground, suffocated and sweaty, while they futilely plead for mercy.

"Hellfire" runs along these lines, not allowing you even a dried-up oasis, not even a brief moment to catch your breath. You feel your legs being eaten by Cerberus, but at the same time you are seduced by the orderly chaos that the work emanates: it’s Hell with its temptations. Well, maybe you're fooling yourself into thinking you've gotten a handle on it, even though your ears are starting to bleed. "To Rottendom", however, will completely shatter your pathetic illusions: this track is a pure act of violence, arriving quick as a train and hitting you full-on. Try to get up, but there's no use: as the vibrations make the walls shake and the glass shatter, you'll suffer a painful bloodbath beating from the devils of Malebolge, while your eyes roll and are about to pop out.

"From The Deeps", then...here we are in full sadism. It’s like one of those bastard dreams you have as a teenager, where the voluptuous hottie from school, whom everyone craves and follows drooling like snails, finally gives in, and then you wake up moaning and realize you’re humping the pillow. The onslaught pauses for a moment, then resumes, more frenzied and restive than ever. Stuff to make old ladies explode.

And finally, after seven tracks that have literally raped you with a sound that seems almost always the same, but to attentive ears will offer its diabolic nuances without morphing into monotony, you sink into "Hellfire", which lasts—fancy that—13 minutes and 49 seconds. What else can you say? Quite simply, it's a gigantic chili pepper twisting slowly in your ass. Your poor eardrums are now shattered, your skin ripped and burned, your throat parched. And here come 1349 to give you your proper send-off, hitting you with yet another low blow that will make you plunge into the abyss and land in Cocytus, where ice will burn worse than flames and the frigid instrumental end will suck your soul.

The fiftieth minute strikes: the nightmare is over. But if you press the play button again...you have been warned.