Tor ‘Seidemann’ Stavenes – 1349

Scandinavia, once again, shows how it basically inhales and exhales incredible heavy music and 1349 are not new when it comes to being considered as one of the greatest extreme metal bands from Norway, and in the world. Synonymous with the sounds of extreme metal, the band have carved a niche for themselves, creating black metal sounds that will have your hackles rising, blood rushing to your guts and will most likely encourage you to discover the Portal to Hell. Metal Obsession had the pleasure of speaking with bassist Seidemann ahead of their very first Australian tour. They chat about the new album, the inspiration behind 1349’s music, and also quite deeply decipher the reasons behind connecting Satan or the constant flow of negativity when it comes to black metal.

Seidemann and co are certainly excited about their upcoming Australian tour as this is their first visit  to our shores and they are all set to make a deadly appearance. ” Of course, we’re really excited as you know, that we’re finally able to go to Australia. I mean, we’ve heard a lot of good things about the crowds, the music scene there and also Australia is a very unique continent so hopefully we have some tourist time there as well. But we want to spread the hellfire wherever we can and now it’s Australia’s turn.” This of course, means that the Aussie crowds will be hearing music from all of 1349’s records, a treasure trove of extremity. ” Since we have released six albums so far and we’ve never been to your country before, we will be playing a varied set-list definitely but a lot of the tracks will definitely be from our most recent album, ‘Massive Cauldron of Chaos.”

Musically the band’s sixth album Massive Cauldron of Chaos which was released in 2014 is a lot more diverse than say ‘Hellfire’ or ‘Revelations’ and has received widespread appreciation ever since, being an album that not only validates 1349’s fame for intense and brutal black metal but also proves that black metal doesn’t necessarily have to have one particular style or sound. “It all comes naturally but when you have done many albums you need to look back and see what you have done before. For 1349, the first three albums was where we were finding our feet. ‘Revelations‘ basically had all the background elements of our music and turn them into the foreground which a lot of people had problems with while ‘Demenoir‘ was more brutal death metal and it was very extreme although it kept some of the exponential elements from ‘Revelations’. However, for ‘Massive‘ we were looking back and seeing something that was very much present in the early days of 1349 was the thrash metal groove and thought that maybe we should focus on this part of our music.”

With four years between ‘Demenoir’ and ‘Massive Cauldron of Chaos’, I asked Seidemann whether that time gap did indeed help the creation of the new album. ” Well, after ‘Demenoir’, things got immensely busy and we really stepped up our touring game, especially in the US so in many ways I think the live shows that we did then did kind of had a say because when you do long, long sets of super, brutal stuff, it does help to add in a bit of diversity and flow.  We had time to think about the kind of music that we wanted to create which was and is very important to us.” Sidemann also shared how the writing and recording process for their recent release. “Well, the writing for this album was done, for the most part by Archaon the guitarist. We jammed the songs out together and then finished them up as proper songs. recording process done as always in Studio Studio. However, the one thing that was different this time around was that we brought over our live sound engineer who has been with us for around 8 years now, so he was doing the engineering. Gareth is a ridiculous sound guy and also an extremely talented musician. So if he wasn’t happy with the way an instrument was being played, he would take it out of our hands and show us what he thought it should be played like for a particular track. It was nice indeed.” On being asked whether their firm sound engineer was a big impact on the direction of this album, Seidemann continued, ” Oh yes, I think with him, it was good because he managed to push us hard, especially when we needed it. We tend to get a bit lazy, but he was making sure we played correct and with intention.”

But of course, what would an interview be without a little traditional music media hounding for new material? ” Well it has been two years already, so we should start at some point. We’re almost finished with the third cycle of this tour – we have some festivals coming up this summer as well. But it will take the time it takes, because there’s no need to make a new album if you can’t make it better or different from the previous one.” Hailing from the land of black metal, he also shared what the true inspiration is behind writing the kind of music that 1349 do. Unsurprisingly, the answer is simple. ” I like to use the word primal because with 1349, and I would say even black metal in general, it’s all about the feeling or the mood and with ‘Hellfire’ for example, we wanted to create that kind of feeling where this album is actually a journey to Hell. You just need to close your eyes and let the music take you somewhere.”

I had the pleasure of seeing 1349 obliterate the crowd at Inferno Metal Festival’s 10th edition in Oslo last year and they were, without a doubt, one of the most simple yet powerful acts I’ve seen live. The norwegians command your attention the moment they grace you with their presence. ” Well, we want people to experience something and as you have noticed, there is very little talk and interaction. As soon as we come on stage, there’s sound and we start playing. When one song is done, we go on to another song or there’s soundscapes that are played in between. It’s never quiet and you’re never allowed to rest. In other words, you’ll be drowning in the dark sounds of our music for over an hour.” Take note, humans of Australia.

Straying away from the original topic of 1349 and their music, out of curiousity, I wanted to find out what Seidemann thought when it comes to the classic and stereotypical negativity that black metal brings ( or any kind of heavy metal genre for that matter ) as well as attached to the obscure and unorthodox (Hail Satan.). ” Well, as I said, it’s primarily a feeling, a primal one. It’s something that is in the deepest and darkest part of you which is hidden. It’s a natural part of life and the reality. A person has to be able to understand, see and experience their own dark side to be able to interact with people normally. You can see what too many religions in the world today exemplifies how crazy things can get if you hide it away and suppress negative emotions.” This shared wisdom prompted me to ask how the band has managed to never, even remotely be phased by outsider opinion. ” The long and short of it is that we do music for ourselves, first and foremost which is occasionally problematic because you get stuck in your own riffs. But I think it’s the only way we could’ve lasted for as long as we have. The only way you can do something like this is to be completely dedicated. It does also help that the vocalist and I are from a very small town in Norway where nobody really cares about metal. So you have to learn how to not give a shit about what people say and just do as you think, anyway.”

20 years as one of the most intense black metal bands to ever exist. ” And a strange journey it has been. There is definitely a certain sense of achievement that we managed to take a scene that felt so stagnant and go in our own direction- instead of going on the internet and complaining like most people do, we went out and did something about it and tried to make that change. We have created a past for ourselves and it is definitely a big sense of pride that we have managed to do this for 20 years. ‘

Last words from the man himself before 1349 invade our shores – ” 1349 is really looking forward to spreading the Hellfire Down Under. Be there.”

Witness the maddening intensity of the Norwegian metallers on the following dates.

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