1349 + KAMPFAR + AFSKY – ÄÄNIWALLI, HELSINKI – 7/10/2024

por Emil Gil Bretón · 16/10/2024

The arrival of the black death

The new European tour – which includes the Norwegian black metal bands 1349 and KAMPFAR, and the Danish black metal project AFSKY – arrived to the Nordic city of Helsinki. It was a night to remember: darkness, candles and black metal in its different tones. Below these lines we tell you what happened that night at the Ääniwalli concert venue, which is one of the new places where extreme music has a place in this cold city:

AFSKY

The evening began with the Danes AFSKY, who kept us in a dark mood (with torches on both sides of the stage) for forty minutes with their raw black metal loaded with aggressive and destructive tones, but full of ambient tonalities and atmospheric preludes that led to a reflective dimension and pure contemplation.

The project from the city of Copenhagen was composed of its leader, guitarist and vocalist Ole Pedersen Luk, the restless Martin Jørgensen on bass, the giant Simon Skotte Krogh on guitar, and the capable Simon Hildebrandt Frenning on drums.

The lethal guitar riffs and putrid screams created an interesting sound that left the Finnish audience in a deep trance. The quartet used their short discography of three studio albums and several EPs to give us a set without waste: “Afsky” (2015), “Sor” (2018), “Ofte Jeg Drømmer Mig Død” (2020) and “Om Hundrede År” (2023). Six songs were performed by the Danes, but the effect achieved on the audience was priceless. Dark music at maximum power!

KAMPFAR

Then it was the turn of the Norwegian group KAMPFAR, who are always ready to give us 100%. The band featured their long-time vocalist Dolk (Per Joar Spydevold), Ole (Ole Hartvigsen) on guitar, an unidentified new member on bass, and Tomas Myklebust on drums.

The band began their set with a handful of songs (“Feigdarvarsel”, “Ravenheart”, “Skogens Dyp” and “Ophidian”) loaded with very dark and powerful cacophonous riffs, but with a melancholic feeling close to Norwegian folk.

KAMPFAR delighted us with an incredible seventy-minutes set and a total of 13 songs that can be found on their studio albums: “Mellom skogkledde aaser” (1997), “Fra Underverdenen” (1999), “Kvass” ( 2006), “Heimgang” (2008), “Mare” (2011), “Djevelmakt” (2014) “Profan” (2015), “Ofidians Manifest” (2019) and “Til Klovers Takt” (2022).

The Norwegians ended their set with the song “Det Sorte”. Closing on a high note with an epic song close to nine minutes long that is the perfect example of what KAMPFAR as a band represents: mythology and Norwegian folklore with anti-religion overtones.

1349

Finally, the most anticipated band of the night performed, the Norwegian quartet 1349, who gave us a fierce set, without and waste in which songs from their extensive discography were performed “Liberation” (2003), “Beyond the Apocalypse” (2004), “Hellfire” (2005), “Demonoir” (2010), “Massive Cauldron of Chaos” (2014), “The Infernal Pathway” (2019) and “The Wolf & The King” ( 2024). Raw sound with sharp and dirty black metal anthems that perfectly emulated that cold, dark and grey climate that was drawn perfectly throughout the city. An adult audience in black metal clothing and makeup filled an Ääniwalli venue that had been looking forward to this banquet of dark extreme metal for months. 1349 live incarnation featured its two founding members Olav «Ravn» Bergene on vocals and Tor Risdal «Seidemann» Stavenes on bass, and its two long-standing members Kjetil-Vidar «Frost» Haraldstad of SATYRICON on drums and Idar «Archaon» Burheim on guitar.

In summary, Ravn showed a terrifying presence on stage since thanks to his great size and physical attitude he managed to project an aggressive and powerful voice; Seidemann for his part, was excellent on the low strings of the bass and what to say about his grotesque screams during the chorus of the songs; Frost on drums played perfectly and at all times showed himself in total control of his instrument; and Archaon on guitar is the band’s secret weapon thanks to his huge riffs and those ultra mega fast guitar solos that are not so common in the black metal genre but that in his hands seem so easy to execute.

A great set from this Norwegian dream team called 1349, who destroyed our eardrums with classic songs from the band such as “I Am Abomination”, “Atomic Chapel” and “Abyssos Antithesis”. But at the same time, they didn’t hesitate to present us the malevolent new songs belonging to their recently released studio album “The Wolf and The King”: “The God Devourer”, “Ash of Ages”, “Inferior Pathways” and “Shadow Point”. The legacy of black metal can rest as it is safe in the hands of this Norwegian superstar quartet!