MOMM (50)

Throwback music moment. Pure Holocaust is the second full length release by Immortal (1993). The production here still featured a largely treble inclined guitar works with lots of blast beats dictating the pace of things. Had the urge to listen to this one as I believe the current wave of black metal music are lost when it comes to identity & the embrace for resistance. 

FYI, the rightmost guy in this lineup is Grim. He did not play on this album but toured with the band as its drummer. 

MOMM (41)

Received a couple of new music in the mailbox.

Immortal: War Against All

Looking forward to this release actually because Abbath's Dread Reaver was a let down & I ended up not buying that release. So WAA is Immortal reduced to a lone member, Demonaz. WAA is also a close reproduction of Northern Chaos Gods. Conceptually, these releases are similar with WAA re-visiting some At the Heart of Winter moments; you know, those icy, down tempo tunes. So things are kind of predictable after the third track. 

Tulus: Fandens Kall

I was also looking forward to this release because I know Tulus gives me what I want to hear - good black metal with no speed obligations & a standout bass production. So nothing really changed in that aspect just another good Tulus serving. The band sort of stabilized in their music making with Olm Og Bitter arguably the only contentious release that threatened to derail a good following but Tulus proved themselves capable of getting back on track. Also, I hear a more distorted tone here, more distortion saturation to be precise, unlike the previous release where the guitars sounded crunchy almost suggesting someone had forgotten to max out the guitar volume while recording.

The 7th Day

Fresh catch: Immortal- The Seventh Day of Blashyrkh. It's the limited edition version, hand numbered & poster inclusive.

Album anticipations

Currently anticipating these 2 releases:

Immortal's LIVE DVD: 14th September '10

Fresh Enslaved (Ha!): September '10

Immortal: All shall fall

This is perhaps the most anticipated release this year after knowing the band has resurrected its form & ready to release new music. Note the new member in the line-up; Aura Noir's Apollyon.

All Shall Fall saw the return of Immortal. The band went on where Sons of Northern Darkness left off, so there's nothing new, really. If you enjoyed the aforementioned prior release, All Shall Fall would be an extension of your enjoyment. The music presented here is very palatable, even non-black metal fans would have no qualms listening to this album & ignoring the vocals, deeming it as superb after the initial spin. The hardest number here would be Hordes to War, a blast from start to finish quite close to some of the most aggressive materials offered in Blizzard Beasts. We can all agree that Abbath & Horgh are two of the most capable players in this music genre & this album proves just that. Abbath's guitar works in particular are attuned to hooks; he's one of those players who would carefully churn out materials which are tasteful in context. It had been so since At the Heart of Winter, all very impressive to say the least.

Nevertheless, the purists would resign in the acknowledgment that the palatable music offered here would attract pretenders of the genre.

But music is for general enjoyment, we all know that.

The first (Part 2)

The first person I saw playing an Ibanez Flying V was Immortal's Abbath. It was a hand-down instrument from former Immortal guitar player, Demonaz. As you can see, it's an early Ibanez model which still featured Jackson-like ski slope fretboard markers. The headstock had also been filed down to make it look un-Ibanez.

For their current reunion tours, Abbath had been seen playing the LTD V-type guitars as there is a current endorsement deal between the player & the guitar manufacturer. In due fairness, the man should be given an Ibanez endorsement in the first place but Ibanez has a record of severing endorsement ties with landmark guitarists, John Petrucci & Frank Gambale are among others worth mentioning.

Dead to this World: First Strike for Spiritual Renewance

They say former band members don't die, they just form a new band- that's exactly what happened to Kvitrafn (left- Gorgoroth) & Iscariah (right- Immortal).

This release is essentially a black metal offering but it is adequately laced with thrash's erratic mood swings, so much so that it would attract the average metal head who thinks there should be more life to the former genre. In this album we are able to hear:

• Kvitrafn's dynamic tempo temperaments, not just the swirling thumps he issued during his Gorgoroth stint
• Iscariah's vocal capacity (which drew much inspiration from Abbath but with absent troll-like squawks)
• Iscariah's guitar playing content which proved he's not the bass shadow in his former Immortal life

Fans of Aura Noir/ I/ Grimfist would applaud this effort.