Immortal, apart from their behaviour to declare to play “holocaust metal”,
are one of the 2-4 most important bands for the Norwegian black metal origin.
Abbath and Demonaz played together with Varg, the Burzum mastermind, in Old
Funeral, a thrash band with an edge to the blackness of the ’80, but their
music radically changed with the supreme blackness of their ‘91 7’’
“Unholy Forces of Evil”, two song of pure evilness, obscurity, an incredible
mood that was so distant by the rockish and spirit of the ’80 death-black
metal, a voice from the dark side. The ‘91 surprise became a superb certainty
with the debut album “Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism”
(Vote 9), a recording in the same vain of the sombre, Nordic and eerie feeling
of the 7’’. The two songs from that 7’’ are present in that album
together with other songs with the same level of pathos. There is a freezing,
dark atmosphere and the Abbath’s vocals are something unique and original, a
personal variation of the Quorthon screaming, more croaked. Some thrash
influences are sometimes clear, but the colder and darker sound and the extremer
attitude of the band don’t recall to any retro shadow.
Listen to “Diabolical…” is like a nightmare of visions, past memories of
darkness that come back like a blaze in a deep night, enchanted by the fullmoon
power in a unholy hallucination, an invocation to the rebirth of past phantoms.
“Cryptic Winterstorms” is opened by a majestic arpeggio and the gloomy
darkness inhaled by the guitars lines and the background feeling is something
really dangerous.
In 1993 the second Immortal’s album was released writing another eternal
page in the black metal history. “Pure Holocaust” (Vote 10) is the right
title to represent the feeling behind Immortal’s creation, a storm of hate,
blackness, Nordic fury, the taste of the most inhuman winter. Every song is a
superior expression of Norwegian evilness, an obscure journey in an icy abyss,
far away from the feeble light. Immortal chose for a more brutal musical
approach, in the drumming there’s a destructive and nihilistic attach
without remorse, a monster of majestic darkness.
“Pure Holocaust” is almost perfect, a black metal album that have fixed
the standards and that is able to express a hungry mood like not so many other
albums around. After the excellence of that album it wasn’t simple for the
demon brothers, Abbath & Demonaz, to reach the same quality.
But “Battles in the North” (1995, Vote 8.5), apart from the unreachable
excellence of “Pure Holocaust”, is a solid black metal album, where a
cold, sharp and
chaotic black metal recording gives the typical “holocaust black” sound to
the Immortal’s songs. The opening track is an assault of the coldest hate,
an icy storm of vengeance, sometimes the guitars are too low on the mix but
when the lines emerge the sensation is great. The Abbath’s voice is
fantastic as usual, like a black raven and the lyrics are well linked to the
general atmosphere. A special mention deserves the song “Blashyrkh (Mighty
Ravendusk)”, an impressive “black ballad”, as the icy black killer
titletrack. With the first three albums Immortal become a flag of the
triumphant black metal movement, but after all that hard work the next album
“Blizzard Beasts” (1997 Vote 8) didn’t reached the same success in the
fans base. I’m not part of the disappointment, because I think that
“Blizzard” isn’t surely a bad work, there are some very exciting songs,
surely it isn’t a pure black metal album because it shows some death
influences, but the sharp cold recording perfectly fits those
elements with the still present Immortal background. If this time the guitars
are well recorded there’s a problem with the drums, damaged by a lack of
power and consistency in the majority of the songs. Some songs are very short
and with a great intensity and, apart from a visionary song in the middle of
the album, the aggressive side of the demon brothers is predominant.
The Greatest change in Immortal’s carrier is the ’99 “At the Hearth of
Winter” (Vote 7.5), the Demonaz depart was a very hard hit that should bring
Immortal split, but Abbath decided to continue that experience alone. Surely
“At the Heart…” isn’t an excellent release like the first two
masterpieces but it kept alive a band, but showing a dangerous evolution in
the Immortal’s music, some heavy, death and thrash influences conquered the
scene, and after that siege the early essence went-away, only in some moments
of two or at last three songs there are some feeble echoes of the atmosphere
of the debut, but they’re only moments and nothing more. This album hasn’t
been a fault but it opened a very dangerous breach in the
essence of that incredible black metal historical band, only in some riffs and
in the well-known Abbath’s voice there is the same feeling, and something is
surely gone-away in the fog of the past. The quality is fair good, but some
songs are a bit too long and with the icy aggression of the masterpieces, the
radical aggression of the previous three album isn’t so present, too many
time it’s broken by heavier stops, like if Abbath have lost the bestiality
of the “Pure Holocaust” spirit. The worst release was the boring “Damned
in Black” (2000 Vote 6.5), an album that doesn’t deserve the Immortal
trademark. It’s incredible how Abbath have lost his roots because there’s
nothing in common with the feeling and the atmospheres of the past. The thrash,
death and heavy influences have almost completely cancelled every black metal
sign, only the voice and some drum parts have something to relate with that
music, and also the feeling is change for a more hellish and standard thrashy
metal, unable to hit with the same cruel, evil, northern misanthropy that the
past Immortal were able to do. A good drumming performance and some heavy and
death riffs aren’t what Immortal are able to do and the result is the bitter
album that the Norwegian band ever made.
It was the 2002 when Abbath tried to adjust the Immotal’s sight with “Sons
of the Northern Darkness” (Vote 7), an album that showed the necessity for
the band to left a bit apart the heavy influences of the last two releases for
a darker approach and a colder but powerful production, but I think that after
all that turn back haven’t still gained the quality of the early albums, and
some very interesting moments are mixed with other that are almost boring. The
drums performance is awesome, aggressive when it’s necessary and creative in
the mid-tempo and slower parts, but another time in the riffs there aren’t
good ideas, and in some moment something seems to be re-copied by “Blizzard
Beast” and “At the Heart”, in some short-memory flashbacks.
Another time I have the serious sensation that some Abbath’s songs are too
long, repetitive and prolix, with slower times then in the past, the result is
a very difficult climb, sometimes promising and sometimes not, an album that
still haven’t destroyed the phantoms of the band decadence
"The Immortal history is divided in two different times, pre and post
Demonaz split, the first is the glorious one the birth and creation of a myth,
with the release of albums that are today peaks of the colder northern black
metal, from the Bathorish beginning of the debut to the maelstrom of their next
3 albums. The second era is where the band sadly gradually lost the icy mood for
a more thrashy and heavy influences, trying to keep back part of the past
majesty but obviously without the same quality" .
"Sons of the Northern Darkness" (Vote 7(10) shows a band trying to
bring back what lost with the unnatural "Damned in Black", with some
flashbacks to the "Blizzard…" album but this time with a recording
that try to put together the grim and cold side together with a professional
recording, a bit like "At the Hearth of Winter". Some good songs are
not too much to keep the flag of this band where it should be, nothing will be
the same again, the dark shadow of the past is not coming back, differently what
can be heard is a fair songwriting not always supported by so good riffs, some
are too happy in my mind other have nothing in common with Black Metal. They
tried to do a mix of the recent releases also looking more far but the
experiment is only partly successful, in some moments and nothing more.
After some time came the split like a surprise, with a band that was finally
gaining the success that surely was deserving not for the last sold-out but the
first four great albums they made, but the legend lives on, the Demon-Brother
will forever be the nightly northern frost, eternally storming.
Mysticism”
(Vote 9), a recording in the same vain of the sombre, Nordic and eerie feeling
of the 7’’. The two songs from that 7’’ are present in that album
together with other songs with the same level of pathos. There is a freezing,
dark atmosphere and the Abbath’s vocals are something unique and original, a
personal variation of the Quorthon screaming, more croaked. Some thrash
influences are sometimes clear, but the colder and darker sound and the extremer
attitude of the band don’t recall to any retro shadow.
chaotic black metal recording gives the typical “holocaust black” sound to
the Immortal’s songs. The opening track is an assault of the coldest hate,
an icy storm of vengeance, sometimes the guitars are too low on the mix but
when the lines emerge the sensation is great. The Abbath’s voice is
fantastic as usual, like a black raven and the lyrics are well linked to the
general atmosphere. A special mention deserves the song “Blashyrkh (Mighty
Ravendusk)”, an impressive “black ballad”, as the icy black killer
titletrack. With the first three albums Immortal become a flag of the
triumphant black metal movement, but after all that hard work the next album
“Blizzard Beasts” (1997 Vote 8) didn’t reached the same success in the
fans base. I’m not part of the disappointment, because I think that
“Blizzard” isn’t surely a bad work, there are some very exciting songs,
surely it isn’t a pure black metal album because it shows some death
influences, but the sharp cold recording perfectly fits those
elements with the still present Immortal background. If this time the guitars
are well recorded there’s a problem with the drums, damaged by a lack of
power and consistency in the majority of the songs. Some songs are very short
and with a great intensity and, apart from a visionary song in the middle of
the album, the aggressive side of the demon brothers is predominant.
the
essence of that incredible black metal historical band, only in some riffs and
in the well-known Abbath’s voice there is the same feeling, and something is
surely gone-away in the fog of the past. The quality is fair good, but some
songs are a bit too long and with the icy aggression of the masterpieces, the
radical aggression of the previous three album isn’t so present, too many
time it’s broken by heavier stops, like if Abbath have lost the bestiality
of the “Pure Holocaust” spirit. The worst release was the boring “Damned
in Black” (2000 Vote 6.5), an album that doesn’t deserve the Immortal
trademark. It’s incredible how Abbath have lost his roots because there’s
nothing in common with the feeling and the atmospheres of the past. The thrash,
death and heavy influences have almost completely cancelled every black metal
sign, only the voice and some drum parts have something to relate with that
music, and also the feeling is change for a more hellish and standard thrashy
metal, unable to hit with the same cruel, evil, northern misanthropy that the
past Immortal were able to do. A good drumming performance and some heavy and
death riffs aren’t what Immortal are able to do and the result is the bitter
album that the Norwegian band ever made.
