Raw black metal, but done in a very control environment. Ok let me explain, this is a black metal album; a hard, cold, satanic and piss off black metal, but done with a nice sound and a mayhem that knows its boundaries (I know it sounds weird but its true) the boundaries are provided by the production, that doesn’t let the whole thing get all over the place because of the brutality of the music.

Every song has a nice structure of riffs and fast melodies that make the vocals demand more from every scream. There are a couple of thrash riffs on the songs, and that just makes everything more complex, elaborated and interesting. You can really get into the album without having to be one of those guys… or girls that likes to paint their face; this is black metal that everybody can appreciate, because it has the raw sound and feeling that black metal needs to exits and a good song writing skills and great riffs that will make you headbang all the way.

1349 has managed to create a black metal album that has the best from the old school sound and incorporate within it the speed and blend of genres from the new wave of black metal, something like Gorgoroth, Dark Funeral, and Marduk have done in recent works.

The drums in here are great; they bang your head against a wall until it disintegrates your entire skull; the guitars have grown tremendously since their previous work and the vocals are just better focused.

I was very surprised to see how a black metal album could get me interested in something other than brutality and darkness… and yes painted faces. But Hellfire did that and more, it got me thinking that maybe raw black metal has more than just an attitude and that it can really get complex and well played if the musicians behind it start to focus on the music instead of the whole “I don’t care” typical black metal attitude.

1349 thought me a lesson, if the musicians are really into their music, they will always surprise you with their work.