1476 (band)

Lore & Background

1476 was founded in 2007 by Robb Kavjian and Neil DeRosa. Their first release, A Wolf's Age (2010), featured former bass player Steve Matthews, who contributed the song 'Closed Casket Heart' and backing vocals. The band and Matthews parted ways due to differing ideas for the future. Later in 2010, they released Smoke in the Sky and a live album, Live. July 17th 2010. Unity, MA., which marked a departure from their first effort toward a gloomier, subdued sound.

In 2012, they released Wildwood and a sister EP, The Nightside, combining European folk, '70s prog, and metal influences. In 2014, they created the soundtrack Edgar Allan Poe: A Life of Hope & Despair for an art show in Salem. Prophecy Productions signed them in 2016, reissuing their back-catalogue—including A Wolf's Age—and releasing the vinyl Wildwood / The Nightside. Their first album with Prophecy, Our Season Draws Near (2017), used a winter theme and was their heaviest album to date, produced by the band and mixed by Markus Siegenhort.

Reader's Guide

1476's significance lies in their refusal to be confined to a single genre, instead blending folk, black metal, indie rock, neo-folk, neoclassical, and post-punk into what they call 'Hermetic Death Rock.' Their music is concept-driven, with each album exploring themes of nature, esoterica, and human nature, often evoking the occult aspects of New England. The band's signing with Prophecy Productions in 2016 brought them international attention, with the label calling them 'America's best kept secret in the realm of dark, atmospheric Art Rock.' Their reissued catalogue and the critical acclaim for Our Season Draws Near solidified their reputation as a unique force in dark, atmospheric music. The duo's ability to reinvent themselves with each release, while maintaining a cohesive esoteric and philosophical thread, has made them a notable act in the underground and beyond.

Did You Know?

• The band's name '1476' refers to a song previously written by founder Robb Kavjian and was chosen for its ambiguity, predating the discovery of America.
• Their first album, A Wolf's Age, was reissued as part of the band's back-catalogue by Prophecy Productions in 2016.
• 1476 assembled their first touring lineup in 2017.
• The band describes their style as 'Hermetic Death Rock.'

Origins & Philosophical Foundation

1476 was born in 2007 when Robb Kavjian and Neil DeRosa, both based in Salem, Massachusetts, decided to write music together. From the very start, they made a deliberate choice to resist being pinned to any single genre. When journalists pressed them for a label, the duo offered the striking phrase 'Hermetic Death Rock'—a term that captures their fusion of the occult and the heavy. Their lyrical and conceptual territory draws heavily on Western esoteric traditions, pre-Christian mysticism, chaos magic, the natural world, and broad philosophical questions. The band's name itself is a nod to an earlier song Kavjian had written, selected partly for its deliberate ambiguity. As a year, 1476 predates European contact with the Americas, suggesting a continental European provenance. Kavjian has spoken about how the past, being entirely subjective and preserved only in fragments of words and images, offers a dreamlike, 'lost in time' quality that he constantly seeks to reconstruct through music.

Musical Style & Genre Defiance

Structurally, 1476 weaves together folk, black metal, moody indie rock, neo-folk, neoclassical, and post-punk into a single cohesive sound. What makes their approach distinctive is that the sonic palette shifts depending on the thematic concept driving each album. Prophecy Productions has characterized the duo as crafting 'isolationist sound stories,' artists rooted in a punk and DIY ethos who have absorbed virtually every genre of guitar-heavy and atmospheric music, including sub-genres of metal, neofolk, and ambient. Critics have noted that their work captures the particular aura of New England while the band reinvents its identity with every release. Their 2012 record Wildwood blended European folk, 1970s progressive rock, and metal into a dark, cinematic evocation of the occult history of the region, while the earlier Smoke in the Sky was described as gloomy and subdued, drawing comparisons to Mark Lanegan's early catalog. Listeners and reviewers have placed 1476 in the same atmospheric, heavy, spiritually rich company as Agalloch, Ulver, and Amebix.

The Prophecy Productions Breakout

In 2016, the Belgian label Prophecy Productions signed 1476, describing them as 'America's best kept secret in the realm of dark, atmospheric Art Rock' and declaring they had 'found a golden nugget.' The partnership brought immediate momentum: Prophecy reissued the band's entire back-catalogue and pressed their first-ever vinyl, a Wildwood / The Nightside double release that earned critical praise as a gateway for listeners seeking a rare duo straddling strange neofolk and melancholy post-punk. Reviewers called it a fortune to encounter a group like 1476, praising their ability to remain both original and coherent. The following year, the duo delivered Our Season Draws Near, their first full-length for the label. Drenched in a winter theme that evokes the dreary, foreboding atmosphere of coastal New England, it stands as their heaviest record to date, channeling raw personal emotion dedicated to solitude and its lessons. The band produced the album themselves while Markus Siegenhort of the post-black metal project Lantlôs handled mixing. Critics hailed it as a 'wild-card folk/atmospheric metal force' that holds the listener in a constant state of thrall. 2017 also saw the duo assemble their first touring lineup.

Creative Arc & Discography

The discography of 1476 reads as a story of reinvention and creative honesty. Their 2010 debut A Wolf's Age featured a temporary third member, bassist Steve Matthews, who contributed the closing track 'Closed Casket Heart' and backing vocals. After sessions ended and the trio parted ways over differing artistic visions, the band ultimately discontinued and removed the album from their catalogue in January 2015—a rare act of artistic integrity. The 2010 EP Smoke in the Sky and a live recording from a July 17, 2010 show in Unity, Massachusetts, followed quickly. Wildwood (2012) and its sister EP The Nightside explored human nature through nature-based imagery and occult New England references. In 2014, the duo pivoted to soundtrack work with Edgar Allan Poe: A Life of Hope & Despair, a neoclassical and experimental score composed for a Poe-themed art exhibition in Salem. Their most recent studio release, 'In Exile,' arrived in 2023, continuing the pattern of each album presenting a distinct conceptual and sonic identity.