When black metal exploded in the early 90s it gained notoriety for the actions of a few of its leading lights as much as it did for the extremity of the music. Church burnings, murders and suicides made for sensationalistic press and catapulted bands like Mayhem, Emperor and Burzum into infamy. While the scene imploded, one band kept the focus on the music, distancing themselves from the antics of their better known brethren. Immortal may not have gained the instant recognition that their peers did, but over the years they have emerged as the most consistently rewarding Norwegian black metal band.
None of this is to say that Immortal has not had their share of problems. Original bassist Abbath Doom Occulta and guitarist Demonaz Doom Occulta went through drummers at a rate faster than Spinal Tap. Then, in 1997 all the years of playing guitar at lightening fast speeds caught up with Demonaz when he was diagnosed with a severe case of tendonitis in his arms. Demonaz’s condition threatened the existence of the band. As Abbath has consistently made clear, Immortal could not and would not continue without Demonaz. A compromise was reached, and Demonaz continued to pen the band’s lyrics while Abbath took over guitar and songwriting duties. As a result, Immortal’s blackened grime began to take on shades of thrash, and song structures grew by epic proportions. The band also left behind black metal’s trademark lo-fi sound, and in 1999 they produced their masterpiece “At the Heart of Winter.” The band continued to produce near perfect albums with 2000’s “Damned in Black,” and 2002’s “Sons of Northern Darkness.” And then silence…until now.
Immortal have returned in full corpsepaint, roaring from the icy north with bloodied battle axes ready for more, in short “All Shall Fall,” is an absolute monster of an album.
Beginning with the crushing apocalyptic title track, the band sounds so massive, so much larger than life, one can envision them pronouncing humanity’s death sentence from on high, rather than impotently warning from the street corner. “The Rise of Darkness” and “Hordes to War” continue the juggernaut. “Hordes” sounds exactly like what the title describes, with galloping drums and guitar leading the battle charge toward annihilation.
“Norden on Fire” and “Arctic Swarm” slow things down, but just barely. Yet even at mid-tempo speeds Immortal is still more powerful than any other band out there, except maybe Slayer. The band ratchets things back up for “Mount North,” which finds the northern armies back on the march. “Unearthly Kingdom” brings Immortal’s latest epic to a close. Sounding more doomy than black, before storming forward into blizzards of thrash, the song is a perfect example of why Immortal are masters of metal, regardless of genre.
“All Shall Fall” carries throughout it themes of mass demise and universal finality tapping into the current cultural zeitgeist of impending doom. In typical warrior fashion though, Immortal are not going to go out whimpering on their knees, but standing upright and ready in the face of apocalyptic destruction. Here is to hoping that for all the hype of worldwide destruction swirling around us today, Immortal remain true to their name and continue to produce masterworks of metal like this for many more years to come.
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