interview by: Roberto Martinelli

1349's music has been described as audible hellfire. That pretty much says it all. This Norwegian group’s first proper album (after their self-titled MCD from a few years ago) sees the quintet reaching levels of extremity and skill before unseen. As vocalist Ravn puts it, they like to play “on the edge.” Sounds like an apt assessment. (all photos taken from www.peterbeste.com by Peter Beste, whom we interview in this issue under "black metal photography.")

Maelstrom: The new record that you put out is certainly a lot different than the mini-CD that you did. It’s a huge step forward in terms of sonic art. The first thing I have to ask you is, it’s so fast to the point I wonder if it’s sped up at all.

Ravn: (laugh) I can assure you it’s not sped up.

Maelstrom: That’s impossible!

Ravn (left): Hu-hu. Well, I have to tell you that this was recorded in autumn 2001. Since then we have developed ourselves a lot musically. We are currently working on a lot of new material. I can also tell you that it will be faster.

Maelstrom: Oh, come on! How?

Ravn: Hahahaha. Well, the songs demand it and Frost is up to it.

Maelstrom: Wow. Most people can’t play with two hands what he plays with one hand.

Ravn: We’ll, we’re very delighted. That’s why I asked Frost to do the drums in the first place. Originally I played the drums, but it was too much for me. I had to make a decision to play drums full time or do the vocals. The early material didn’t affect him so much, but when he had the new material, he was very impressed and wanted to join us on a full time basis!

Maelstrom: I’ve heard that Frost is a rather strange guy, or, that he’s a true black metal guy - he embodies the sense of the word. What is he really like?

Ravn: Frost is a guy that does everything 110 percent. He can’t stand for less.

Maelstrom: You can tell by his playing style.

Ravn: He’s really a remarkable person and a great inspiration for us in the band to have his strength to push us to develop ourselves in extreme ways and to play on the edge.

Maelstrom: What’s it like with you and your role? What is challenging for you in terms of the vocals?

Ravn: I can focus more on how we build up the songs. I can sit there during the rehearsals and listen and figure out different ways to play it. That’s kind of hard to do when you’re playing drums, as you have to focus on what you’re playing.

Maelstrom: Let’s talk a bit of the sound of the record. Going back to my impression that it was sped up, the resonance of the drums is very short and clicky, not like a triggered sound. It sounds different than most other records. In terms of production, what did you go to the studio to do? How is it different from the album before?

Ravn: I produced the album. I chose an analog studio. We used a 2-inch tape recorder and 24 tracks. If you listen to just the drum track, you will hear that it’s not sped up as you can hear a depth to the drums. The resonance is short because, to make them sound as fast as they are, you have to compromise a bit by using gates.

Maelstrom: What does that mean?

Ravn: You use an effect that opens for some milliseconds every time you hit the drums. He’s playing so fast sometimes that it’s hard to adjust it.

Maelstrom: So you’re saying that if you didn’t gate them, it would sound like one big blur?

Ravn: It’s a bit give and take in the recording process. We didn’t trigger the drums. That’s why we have to use the gate thing. Most other bands use trigger sounds.

Maelstrom: I like your way better. It’s more organic sounding.

Ravn: Frost was a bit against triggering before. He didn’t do it on the Volcano album (of Satyricon - Roberto). Live, we trigger.

Maelstrom: Can you gate live?

Ravn: Yes, you can. It’s an ordinary effect. What you gain mostly by using triggers in live situations when you’re playing so fast on the drums - which you have to take a lot of time adjusting in the studio, because you’re always playing on the edge - is that all the sound is there at once. You just adjust the triggers. You can use microphones inside the bass drums to get the clicking sound and you can have the deep sound coming out of the triggers.

Maelstrom: But doesn’t that change your sound so totally? For me, listening to this Liberation album is so much about the experience is this sound, which is not very bassy. If I go to see you live and you have these triggers, I would imagine that would change the sonic experience.

Ravn: That’s kind of part of the challenge. We’re very focused on not having the drums sound like triggered drums.

Maelstrom: Like, you know when you go to see these death metal shows like Vader...

Ravn: Yes.

Maelstrom: Yeah, of course you know what I’m talking about.

Ravn: Yeah, of course. I don’t like this sound. You can hear the bass drums, of course, but you can’t feel them.

Maelstrom: The big fault I find with this sound is that, when it’s badly done, all you can hear is the bass drums. A funny thing about metal is that a lot of times they don’t make the snare loud enough on stage. I’d like to hear the snare. It’s sort of like ambient music otherwise.

Ravn: That’s normally no problem with Frost. He’s hitting so fucking hard. (Frost pictured at left)

Maelstrom: I’ve never seen the Satyricon DVD (or seen Frost play live). Can you describe how he plays? Is it all fingers?

Ravn: He uses his fingers, yes. He sits home, watching TV with a drumstick, hitting a pillow using his fingers. So he has worked up this incredible speed in his fingers.

Maelstrom: The record is called Liberation. Liberation from what?

Ravn: First of all, it’s a liberation for us to get this album out. I have to tell you that the mini-CD wasn’t supposed to be released.

Maelstrom: Why not?

Ravn: It was a demo, but Holycaust Records enjoyed it so much that unfortunately, we said yes.

Maelstrom: So you’re not happy with it at all.

Ravn: No. As you said at the beginning of the interview, the sound was very different. It was a demo, and it was unfortunately released, but we can’t complain about that now.

Maelstrom: What else is the album a liberation from?

Ravn: It’s meant to be a liberation from this synth style black metal. As you may have heard, we don’t use synthesizers.

Maelstrom: Right.

Ravn: We do, however, use a pump organ. Have you noticed?

Maelstrom: I have. It’s toward the end, isn’t it?

Ravn: Yes.

Maelstrom: What’s a pump organ?

Ravn: It’s an old organ on which you have to use your feet to pump the air for the organ.

Maelstrom: How cool. Where did you find that?

Ravn: We have a guy that has one at home. We went in a car and picked it up. First we wanted it on just one song, at the end of the song “Liberation.”

Maelstrom: So you thought about the pump organ before you knew the guy who had a pump organ?

Ravn: Yes. The bass player realized he knew this guy who had a pump organ. I said, “great, bring him in.”

Maelstrom: I think the big problem with the synths is that, essentially, synthesizers synthesize: you can generally tell that it’s not the real thing. If you had a synthesizer playing a pump organ, it wouldn’t sound as good. I don’t know if you’ve heard the new Solefald, but it has a loto fo non-synthesized instruments, like trumpets and saxophone. That’s really cool. Why synthesize a flute when you can get someone to play flute for you?

Ravn: I like to work with organic sound. That’s why I chose the analog machine for the recording. I did also record it digitally. You just don’t have the depth in the sound. I was struggling very hard to get this. I’d like call it the bottom of the picture. It isn’t there.

Maelstrom: You said the record was recorded in autumn of 2001. That’s quite a bit ago, or is it not?

Ravn: Yes.

Maelstrom: What’s been going on since then?

Ravn: We tried to sign a record deal.

Maelstrom: I’m surprised that is was that difficult. Were you very picky?

Ravn: Yes, we were. One thing led to another and I think things got a bit out of hand. Candlelight has been very patient with us. We tested them a bit, but it’s good to know they really wanted us. It was supposed to be released on Holycaust Records, but both me and him found out it was too big for him. He said, “the potential of this album, I can’t fully handle it for you. I don’t have the distribution.” Also, Candlelight were already interested. The lawyers took a lot of time. Our lawyer is in France, for some reason. He has a lot of other bands to do. As I said, one thing led to another. I have a lot of work, also.

Maelstrom: You mean, outside the band?

Ravn: Yeah, unfortunately.

Maelstrom: The non-black metal stuff.

Ravn: Well, I try to keep it a bit black metal.

Maelstrom: (laugh)

Ravn: I work with other bands. I do lights and pyros.

Maelstrom: I understand that 1349 is the year the Black Plague came to Norway.

Ravn: ...yes! Correct. You’ve done your part. (Almost dead laugh)

Maelstrom: Yeah. I did a little research. Can you give us a little bit more of a history lesson on that?

Ravn: It came to Norway and wiped out one third of the population. Norway was the country in all of Europe that got struck hardest by the Black Plague.

Maelstrom: What’s next for 1349? I imagine you’ll have another record within a year.

Ravn: We’re going to record it hopefully during the summer, and it’ll be released early next year, if we keep with the schedule. It’ll be a bigger album in every way. The sound will be a bit different.

Maelstrom: When are you coming to the States?

Ravn: As soon as possible! I have a feeling Liberation is an album that will suit Americans more than Europeans.

Maelstrom: Yeah, like it real hard here.

Ravn: Yes. It’s real intense and aggressive. If they like death metal bands that are aggressive, this will blow them away.

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