1349 Frontman: Next Album Will Be 'Wilder And Darker'

MTUK metal 'zine recently conducted an interview with 1349 vocalist Ravn and bassist Seidemann. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow:

MTUK: Have you been in song writing mode or anything like that?

Ravn: We are in, like, limbo state. We have this tour going on and we have a lot of new material which is in the process of being made and a lot of shit is happening and has been for the last six months actually and will be also for some time. Everything is like…we're juggling a lot of balls in the air and we have to get them down one at a time to make the bits fall together the way we want it. So in many ways you can say the feeling in the band is tense, but in a good way, because a lot of shit is happening, everybody's on the spot to get the best out of it, to grab the moment, so to speak. To get the band to the next level, which will, of course, result in a new album being released.

MTUK: When is that due to be released? Is there a date yet?

Ravn: No… next year… We've scheduled the studio for December.

MTUK: What kind of direction is the new material going to take?

Ravn: Well, it's hard to say…

Seidemann: It's going to be 1349, there's no doubt about that; it will probably still be black metal…

MTUK: Is it going to be a bit darker like "Hellfire" was?

Ravn: In many ways it will be wilder and darker, deeper. We've done so far for each album, things that have been stretched in all directions. The clarity of the music and the songs have kind of stretched in all directions…slower parts and faster parts…it's had to be more extreme in all directions. General feeling so far is that this is still going on, on the next album. So now we have a more settled sound and way of making our music that will of course be the main path of the album. We are not interested in repeating ourselves on any album, so it will be something different…of course not revolutionary new, but we are not out to make a revolution. We just want to make the music that we want to make. That is the main focus; we need to make an album that we are happy with, that really does it for us, something that makes the whole process easier to go out and defend it in interviews and say we're really happy with this album. We won't release an album unless we get that feeling, so we have to work until we've completed all of that. I'm confident that we'll come a long way in December.

MTUK: Since Tjalve's departure, has anyone in particular taken more charge of the songwriting or is it a group effort mostly?

Ravn: Archaon is writing most of the music but in general everyone is pitching in. We have riffs, maybe some ways of arranging the songs which is done in the rehearsal room to put the song together, but Archaon has grown a lot writing songs and the structure. He has his very own way of making songs and thinking them out…obviously he got a lot better, it's two years since "Hellfire" came out. He's grown a lot as a musician. Tjalve's departure…his riffs and playing style was very different to Archaon's and people who liked that will probably miss that. I think a lot of the types of riffs and music that Tjalve made is still very present though and Archaon has of course played this over the years. They both inspired each other with what they did…it's kind of a merging so that he leaves and Archaon draws influence from the older material but making new material and new paths. We look backwards and forwards at the same time, trying to combine the two into one. That's what we've always done, creating black metal in general…looking backwards and forwards for inspirations and visions to come together.

MTUK: How is the relationship with Candlelight going?

Ravn: Well it's a record label like any other…they do their thing and we do ours…

MTUK: Any conflicts?

Ravn: There are always conflicts with any label. We are happy with them on some issues and not on others. It's all about making it work…it's a normal relationship, with good and bad terms like any other band has. I don't think there's any band that's 100% happy with their label and…

Seidemann: I don't think every label is happy with their bands.

Ravn: But of course if the band makes a lot of money for the label, they are willing to stretch more…in the process of building a band so to speak. It's a difficult thing for a label to do from their side. There are so many bands…who do you put your money on? It's an ongoing process.

MTUK: Hahaha! Do you have any particular favourite bands at the moment…what do you think of present day black metal scene?

Ravn: Hmmm…I have no opinion about this…

Seidemann: Nooo…I mean, current-day black metal…I don't pay attention anymore. Of course this could be the time for shameless self-promotion like a lot of other bands, but I'm going to stay clear of that. So no I don't have any idea…I fell off the black metal scene as it was, around the time we started doing gigs and touring. When you play black metal every day, the first thing you want to hear when you come home is not black metal.

MTUK: What do you typically listen to then?

Seidemann: Folk music, classical music, progressive stuff, jazz, anything that's got a heart and soul, any music that you can feel has been done properly. I mean there's no use turning on the radio because all you hear is mass-produced shit. Any music that speaks with a proper voice and with emotion…that's what I listen to.

Ravn: But we did have the release of the new MAYHEM album.

Seidemann: Yeah, that was great! That was really good!

Ravn: And of course DARKTHRONE have released a new album.

Seidemann: Yes that was good too.

MTUK: Yep, they're still alive!

Ravn: Yes, very much so. The last two, since signing with Peaceville again, it's revitalized the band, so to speak, because on Moonfog they kind of fell into this…

MTUK: Hole?

Ravn: Yeah basically. Good albums but they sounded much the same and there wasn't anything particular about them. Now the sound has changed and the attitude in the band I think is turning back to their roots. But DARKTHRONE has never been like that. Going from strict death metal into the black metal path; they have not been in that punk era which they are entering now. Maybe in the end they'll find the strict way of black metal…which is the path we have come on so to speak, even though if you listen hard enough you can hear a lot of punk attitudes and music that generated from a lot of older thrash metal. There's a lot of thrash influence in 1349. That also makes the biggest difference from most other black metal bands. They try to move their music into a more rock-based thing. To draw from the thrash scene is different, it's more aggressive…

Read the entire interview at www.metalteamuk.net.

1349 performing at Wacken Open Air festival in August 2007: