1349

Metal fans will be arguing about how black metal is defined until the end of time. Few genres have such unerring potential to polarize and divide, even at this late stage in its development. But if furious pedants can agree on anything, it should be that the best black metal often comes from Norway and, as "Winter Mass" confirms, has seldom been more precisely encapsulated than within the many and varied works of Oslo's own 1349. Formed as a seething response to the genre's evolution in the mid-to-late '90s, these diehards have been ramming the good/bad stuff down our throats for nearly three decades. From their vicious, primitive 2003 debut "Liberation", to the crushing blasphemy of last year's "The Wolf & the King", 1349 consistently come as close as anyone to nailing black metal's feral essence.

Ultimately, the Norwegian scene's spiritual dominance over the blackened legions of the world needs no explanation. This live album was recorded at Oslo's Parkteatret venue shortly after the cessation of pandemic lockdowns in November 2021, and as an example of how black metal should be executed in the flesh, it is going to take some beating. 1349 are a white-hot malevolent force, and one of the genre's finest live acts. "Winter Mass" presents the complete live show and serves as both a demonstration of prowess and a slightly skewed summary of the band's story so far. Visceral and unwavering, it offers an hour of frenzied intensity and callous atmosphere, the quartet's self-evident mastery coming across loud and clear. In sonic terms, "Winter Mass" is neither a big, glossy indulgence, nor a self-consciously primitive sop to the purists. Instead, from towering anti-hits like "Sculptor of Flesh" and "I Am Abomination" through to the more adventurous likes of the genuinely astonishing "Atomic Chapel" and more recent cuts like "Striding the Chasm", 1349's poisonous charisma and wild ensemble chemistry bursts from the speakers like a vengeful bombing campaign, with talismanic frontman Ravn spitting unholy diatribes with the eerie flair of a merciless demagogue. Fortunately, it also sounds like the attendant crowd were having an excellent time, even as the flames of Hell consume their souls. None more black, as they say.