UMUR "Massive Cauldron of Chaos" is the 6th full-length studio album by Norwegian black metal act 1349 and the successor to "Demonoir" from 2010. The album was released through Indie Recordings in September 2014. 1349 was formed in 1997 by former members of Alvheim and was joined by Satyricon drummer Frost in 1999. They are one of the more successful Norwegian black metal acts.

The music on the album is not limited to featuring black metal elements, as 1349 incorporate quite a few old school thrash metal riffs in their music. The combination of aggressive thrashy riffing (usually played at a really high pace), and blasting black metal sections works very well for 1349. Some tracks stand out more than others, but the quality of the material is generally high. I´d mention the fast aggressive thrashy riffing on "Slaves", the blast beat whirlwind on "Exorcism", and the chilling cold atmosphere on "Mengele´s", as some of the highlights on "Massive Cauldron of Chaos".

The musicianship is on a high level on all posts. Although the riffs are traditional black/thrash metal type riffs, they are still quite creative for the genre (great guitar solos too), and add to that the furiously fast-paced yet organic drumming by Frost, and the instrumental part of the music is a very enjoyable ride. The raspy snarling vocals are pretty standard for the genre, and slightly monotone, but they are still delivered with the right amount of caustic anger to sound convincing.

Upon conclusion "Massive Cauldron of Chaos" more than justifies the band´s position as one of the leading black metal acts from Norway. The songwriting is intriguing and relatively varied, the musicianship strong, and add to that a raw, yet detailed and professional sounding production, and "Massive Cauldron of Chaos" comes off as a high quality album in all departments. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

adg211288 Massive Cauldron of Chaos (2014) is the sixth full-length album by Norwegian black metal act 1349. It's been four years since the release of their last album Demonoir (2010), which was the follow-up to the fanbase divider that was Revelations of the Black Flame (2009). I haven't personally heard a lot of 1349's work prior to Massive Cauldron of Chaos, though I was intrigued by the backlash that Revelations of the Black Flame received and gather from what I've read up on the group as research for this review that Demonoir was a much better received album.

Being my first proper experience with the music of 1349 I obviously wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I first stuck Massive Cauldron of Chaos on to play. I usually see the band listed as just a black metal act, sometimes with dark ambient influences mentioned, especially regarding the more recent work. What I found in Massive Cauldron of Chaos is indeed black metal, but black metal than has a very strong thrash metal edge to the guitars. I'm quickly reminded of some of Immortal's later releases. Damned in Black (2000) and Sons of Northern Darkness (2002) are definitely valid points of reference. 1349 frontman Ravn's growl can even remind me of Immortal's Abbath at times but it's musically that puts Massive Cauldron of Chaos in the same niche more than anything. This makes Massive Cauldron of Chaos not as raw or atmospheric as some black metal can be, but a more direct and aggressive piece of work.

There are eight tracks on the album with a total of about thirty-eight minutes of music. The duration feels about right for the style as the album doesn't vary itself too much. It doesn't outstay it's welcome in other words and certainly fills its running time to bring in an assault of riffs, riffs and more riffs. There are still some more traditionally orientated black metal parts to be found though, and the growled vocals are in that vein too. Massive Cauldron of Chaos is very thrashy but it is still a black metal album first and foremost. Mengele's is a good example of where things turn towards more of pure black metal sound while Slaves really shows off just how well 1349 infuse thrash metal into their music. They save the best song for last in the form of Godslayer. A real triumphant conclusion to a great album.

Overall this album isn't as strong as those Immortal ones I compared it to but as a fan of those Massive Cauldron of Chaos is good complementary material from 1349. 4 Stars are very much deserved.

84/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/1349-massive-cauldron-of-chaos-t3818.html)

UMUR "Chaos Preferred" is the 2nd demo by Norwegian black metal act 1349. The demo was self-released in August 1999.

Being a demo the sound quality is not exactly of professional quality but there´s a certain charm to the garage sound. It´s especially the drums that often drown and sound muffled, while the guitars and the bass actually sound pretty good and distinguishable from each other in the soundscape. The raspy vocals are a bit low in the mix but that´s pretty typical for black metal. The 4 tracks on the 19:32 minutes long demo are well written and actually quite catchy considering the raw nature of the music. It´s not the most raw black metal I´ve ever heard but it´s definitely not in the polished end of the spectrum either. 1349 succeed because they are able to vary their songwriting between blasting parts and more moderately paced parts and because they bring in just enough melody for the tracks to stand out without sacrificing their generally savage approach. There´s even a epic edge to some of the sections albeit of the more dark and evil kind.

If it wasn´t for the pretty lo-fi sound quality, "Chaos Preferred" would have been a pretty great demo, because the quality of the material is obviously very high. I guess a 2.5 star (50%) rating isn´t all wrong.