MOMM

Recent acquisitions; two diverse genres but I embrace everything guitar-related.

Stern/ Lorber: Eleven

Unbelievable chemistry from these two master musicians. Mike Stern is still one of my reference idol when it comes to playing choice notes. I believe jazz inclined players like Scofield & Metheny manifest such thinking as well. They teach you to hold back, craft the ideas according to feel more than anything. Unleash the fury when the time is right. Otherwise, holding back is a sign of control/ Jeff Lorber, folks, has plenty of feel good tunes up his sleeve. Things might be jazzy here mostly but he hyped things up by carving out the happy melodies regardless of the mood.

1349: The Infernal Pathway

There's no hiding that I'm a big fan of Frost; one of the best skin beaters in this type of intense music. His efforts with Satyricon are strict discipline, the 1349 moments are pure drumming armageddon, nothing less. TIP is a far cry from the brazen debut, Liberation. The guitars & overall production here are polished affair. In fact, this might be the only down side of this awesome release; things sound too presentable despite the swirling madness but I rather it be this way than another serving of Dark Throne. The album is interspersed with instrumentals, nothing technical but the ambient kind. It brings back the Demonoir moments so nothing new here. However, each song was crafted to be different so none from the list of 11 is a definitive representation of what TIP is about, let alone what 1349 is about if you still praise them for the raw assault of Liberation. From an appraisal perspective, it's a story & the songs are unique chapters to ensure nothing became predictable. Compared to its predecessor (Massive Couldron of Chaos), despite its diversity, I deem this to be a more focused effort. With every song, the band delivered what they had to say according to a certain theme in mind. There were no confusions & obligations to cascade each song's concept onto another. Then again, this is why this release has no definitive feel to it which isn't a bad thing. 

FYI, 1349 is collaborating with the Munch Museum for artistic merit as one of their songs, Dodskamp, is inspired by the late artist's painting, Death Struggle.

On that note, this marks the start of my MOMM series of entries (Music of My Moment) where I highlight my flavour of the moment which is largely guitar related but there are times when it's not. Music is universal & it inspires us, regardless if there are guitars in there.

1349: Demonoir

1349 has a reputation to uphold after the release of Revelations of the Black Flame. The band went ethereal leaving many fans utterly confused- were the chaps running out of ideas? But if you are a music proponent, you'd understand there would be times when the experimental itch takes over. It's an artistic turn which allows one to exercise liberty but not to the fans' understanding because to them, the artist's output is strictly fodder. They are oblivious to such artistic internalization so the aforementioned album, with its very capricious take on the genre, received very little appreciation.

But the band wasn't about to let that go. The 13 tracks offering in Demonoir are effectively 6 proper tracks in action while the Tunnel of Set tracks in between songs are bridging intermissions. This is where the Reveleations of the Black Flame philosophy remains. For those of us who were initially upset with Revelations, discovery & understanding take place. Demonoir is surprisingly a very structured release, there were no excessive unleashing of aggression yet such presence was felt all round. The guitars were more in place with overdubs clearly making their presence heard. There were also more definition & dedication to tone. On a personal note, 1349 didn't derail themselves from the genre's commitments. They took a turn for the artistic only to return more committed.

1349 fuzz

Fresh loot for the extended weekend listening:

• Paul Gilbert: Fuzz Universe
• 1349: Demonoir

I have not listened to either albums yet...

1349: Revelations

This is a very difficult release to digest from 1349, for some of us, it's unacceptable. This happens because we tend to peg subsequent releases to Liberation (debut) & that this one especially, is a detractor, to say the least.

For those of us BM purists, Revelations of the Black Flame is a tired manifestation from the band, Frost's blastbeats are definitely limited here. What you get are hiss-laden atmospherics not quite an indication of the band's real ferocity. On hindsight, 1349 has moved on, choosing instead to propel feel more than the mere obligation to ignite anger.

However one chooses to see this release, the sure thing here is that the band's black metal roosts are in tact; just a different offering this time round.

Spotted: S-series in BM

The Ibanez S-series has its place in black metal; as seen in 1349...

1349- Simple political wisdom

Some political quotes from a recent chit-chat with the black metal band 1349:

"Oil & heroin- there's a lot of money involved in both countries (Iraq & Afghanistan). So now Americans control the drug traffic & the oil supply- no wonder they picked these strategic countries. But people just don't get it! Wake up!"