Immortal

 

The legendary Norwegian scene of the early 1990s continues to astound us, even to this day. It is hard to imagine black metal of any shape or size without the groundbreaking work done by IMMORTAL, for example. After his stints in both Old Funeral and Amputation, Abbath went on to form Immortal with Demonaz in 1990.  They were initially more death metal than black metal, as is evident on the 1991 self titled demo.  It wasn't until the Immortal 7" EP (also released in 1991) that they changed their style to something more recognizably black metal.

"The Cold Winds of Funeral Frost" is off of the self-titled 7-inch

Immortal's sound clearly owed a debt to the sound of late 1980s and early 1990s Mayhem, but at the same time, it was a unique style.  Elements of Bathory (think Under the Sign of the Black Mark) also being present, Immortal went on to release a full-length album in 1992.  Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism is one of the best 1990s Norwegian black metal debut albums.  Immortal set themselves apart from the hordes of other black metal bands because they incorporated winter-themed lyrics.  Winter, cold, frost, and other climatic elements made perfect sense given Norway's harsh and unforgiving weather.

"Call of the Wintermoon" is one of Immortal's best known early songs

The big shift for Immortal in these earlier years was with the release of 1993's Pure Holocaust.  This album continued some of the stylistic elements of the material from Diabolical and the self-titled 7-inch, but at the same time, Immortal began to push the black metal style forward.  Blastbeats were featured prominently, and the overall speed was ratcheted up a notch unlike almost any other black metal band before this time.

This is "Storming Through Red Clouds and Holocaustwinds"

When Immortal released this album on the world, it truly changed the black metal landscape forever.  There had been fast black metal before (think Sarcofago, for example), but no one had put blastbeats into black metal to such a degree before.  Pure Holocaust stands, in my mind, as one of the technical highlights of all Norwegian black metal--indeed, of all black metal PERIOD.

While Pure Holocaust is one of their most influential albums, I hold that Battles in the North (Immortal's 1995 follow-up) is the superior release. On Holocaust, you can hear Immortal still figuring out what to do with and where to put their blastbeats. There are numerous places where the speed and blastbeats feel like an afterthought. Battles, on the other hand, had songs that were meticulously crafted, and the speed felt necessary and intentional. With each release, the black metal world was forced to sit up and take notice as Immortal changed the game again and again. Battles in the North, to my ears, ranks as a pure masterpiece of the highest order

Here is the title track from '95's Battles in the North

With their next release (1997's Blizzard Beasts), Immortal sought to push the boundaries of the sound they had innovated. Gone were the well-structured songs of Battles. Instead, the blastbeats were used to achieve a chaotic, almost tech-death approach. This album proved divisive among fans. Some loved how over-the-top it was, but some saw it as a step backwards from Battles.

"Winter of the Ages" showcases the insanity of Blizzard Beasts

This was a transitional time for Immortal, as Demonaz had to step down from his guitar-playing duties due to severe tendonitis in his arms. He was unable to play the extremely fast black metal riffing that Immortal's music required and was now relegated to the role of writer. This was also the time frame when drummer Horgh joined the band, and remained their long-time drummer  (they had had a rotating cast of drummers prior to him). But more change was on the horizon.

That change took the form of their 1999 album, At the Heart of Winter. A radical shift in their sound, this album managed to be too radical in sound for some of the old-school fans. But at the same time, many saw this as Immortal's peak. The album managed to incorporate all of the elements from previous albums, but the song structures clearly drew on Viking-era Bathory and classic heavy metal. Listen to the gorgeous soundscape that is "Withstand the Fall of Time":

This is off of 1999's At the Heart of Winter

2002's Sons of Northern Darkness gave us the masterful "Antarctica"

Immortal fully embraced this new sound on their next two albums, 2000's Damned in Black and 2002's Sons of Northern Darkness. Epic, sprawling black metal that meandered across multiple motifs, all while bringing to mind the inevitable evil of a true fimbulwinter is how I think of Immortal in this phase. Sons of Northern Darkness showed the world what black metal was capable of, in terms of artistry.

That said, this began a time of uncertainty for Immortal. They broke up not long after the release of Sons. In the following years, they would re-unite and break up several more times. This culminated in a legal battle for the rights to the name of the band, as Demonaz and Abbath had competing ideas about the future direction of Immortal. Demonaz did eventually win the legal battle, and he and Horgh are now the current core of Immortal. 

Select Discography:

Immortal (demo) (1991)

Immortal 7" (1991)

Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism (full-length) (1992)

Pure Holocaust (full-length) (1993)

Battles in the North (full-length) (1995)

Blizzard Beasts (full-length) (1997)

At the Heart of Winter (full-length) (1999)

Damned in Black (full-length) (2000)

Sons of Northern Darkness (full-length) (2002)

All Shall Fall (full-length) (2009)

The Seventh Date of Blashyrkh (live video) (2010)

Next time: UNLORD