Immortal Release ‘Sons of Northern Darkness’

By late 2001, Immortal had launched six scorching albums and undergone a number of sonic and compositional transformations. As they gathered their instruments and weapons to begin making ready their seventh album, they had been agitated and battle-scarred, however totally ready or one large closing onslaught earlier than taking a prolonged and overdue break. That strategic barrage got here with Sons of Northern Darkness, which Immortal launched on Feb. 4, 2002.

Suffering from extreme tendonitis, authentic guitarist Demonaz handed all guitar duties for the third album in a row to Abbath, who toiled away to jot down songs that captured the essence of the band’s black metallic sound with out repeating what it had beforehand achieved. In addition to showcasing blast beats, tremolo guitar and sepulchral vocals, the band built-in a range of catchy thrash riffs, counter-melodies and even elongated chord patterns that defied the normal tenets of black metallic. While a lot of “One By One” and “Demonium” whizzed by on the velocity of machine gun fireplace, “Tyrants” was sluggish and sluggish, emphasizing environment over velocity and “Within the Dark Mind” triumphantly marched and stomped like a military after a profitable invasion.

“I think that Sons of Northern Darkness has a lot of links to what we have done previously, but also we have gone more back to the eighties, the more basic, thrash stuff,” Abbath informed Metalkings.com. “But that’s important for us, that’s what had inspired us and made us who we are today.”

Immortal — Live (2002)

Sons of Northern Darkness was Immortal’s third album in a row produced by Hypocrisy and Pain frontman Peter Tägtgren, who had discovered how one can finest seize their sound; the album is, by far, the band’s crispest, most well-defined launch. Sons of Northern Darkness additionally marked Immortal’s first album in a brand new take care of Nuclear Blast, which granted them larger distribution that Osmose might present in addition to full artistic freedom.

“It was time for us to move on and for Osmose to let go,” Abbath mentioned. “Osmose still hasn’t got distribution in the United States, for example that explains a lot, doesn’t it? Nuclear Blast have been an honest and strong ally.”

While Abbath and drummer Horgh wrote many of the songs for Sons of Northern Darkness from scratch, some of the extra experimental and thrashy passages had been written for previous releases, however didn’t match the vibe of the music.

“Some of the riffs on ‘Beyond the North Waves’ have been along for quite a while, also some of the riffs on ‘In My Kingdom Cold’ have been around for a couple of years,” Abbath mentioned. “We haven’t got the right ideas or feelings for making those songs until now. And still while working on Sons of Northern Darkness album, I would come up with riffs which I just have to put in the freezer and wait and see if I can fit them into the next album, because you see, I got killer riffs and sometimes they don’t fit in.”

Abbath on Reality Check TV (2002)

It can be some time earlier than Abbath was in a position to check out the “freezer riffs” with Immortal, if he ever accessed them in any respect. As a lot as followers and critics praised the brutality and cohesiveness of Sons of Northern Darkness, a division had grown throughout the band that couldn’t be mended for years. Bassist Iscariah give up after recording just one observe, leaving Abbath to deal with bass within the studio in addition to all of the vocals and guitar. And whereas Demonaz supplied all of the colourful, imaginative lyrics, his incapability to play within the band or tour triggered a rift with Abbath.

“The band’s spirit was not there,” Abbath informed Revolver. Me and Horgh, we had been out, we did the studio, we did the music, the touring, every little thing, and Demonaz solely did all of the lyrics. He wasn’t that a lot concerned, simply the lyrics, and we didn’t have a everlasting bass participant… We had been fed up, particularly me. We might have continued and made more cash, however that’s not the primary situation on this band. Immortal is in regards to the brotherhood; Immortal is a sacred factor, you understand, it’s not just for the cash?”

READ MORE: 10 Catchiest Black Metal Songs

In mid-2005, Abbath, Demonaz and authentic Immortal drummer Armagedda bought along with Gorgoroth bassist King Ov Hell and Enslaved guitarist Arve Isdal to work on an album for a band they referred to as I. They launched the album Between Two Worlds in November 2006 and by the summer time of 2007 Immortal had been enjoying reunion exhibits, which paved the way in which for his or her 2009 album All Shall Fall.

Loudwire contributor Jon Wiederhorn is the creator of Raising Hell: Backstage Tales From the Lives of Metal Legends, co-author of Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal, in addition to the co-author of Scott Ian’s autobiography, I’m the Man: The Story of That Guy From Anthrax, and Al Jourgensen’s autobiography, Ministry: The Lost Gospels According to Al Jourgensen and the Agnostic Front e book My Riot! Grit, Guts and Glory.