Immortal – Northern Chaos Gods
When Immortal is mentioned, I immediately think of the over the top character, Abbath. With this album, I had to finally put that image in my brain to rest. Immortal is not Abbath anymore, they returned to their roots and in my opinion turned into a more pure and raw form of Immortal with Northern Chaos Gods. Even though I felt a little unsure of what to expect, I have to admit that from the start of the album, to the final beat – it held my attention.
The album starts of with the title track, Northern Chaos Gods. It starts of with intense drumming and a pretty cool guitar riff. But this gets interrupted almost as soon as it started with the piercing sound of Demonaz’ vocals. This was surely a pleasant shock. Immortal turned back into old Immortal.
Into Battle Ride is most definitely my favourite track on this album. The catchy melodies and riffs got me banging my head in an instant. This feels so much different than my set ideas of what Immortal is supposed to be like, but it feels right. It feels dark, and the vocals seem extremely raw. This makes some pretty amazing music.
Gates to Blashyrkh had an interesting feel to it too. The slower music combined with the vocals made me feel the cold of Northern Winters course through me. Trust me, this is an intense feeling when you live in the constant sunny and warm Southern Africa. The goosebumps covered me with this one, and I think it is well worth the listen.
My favourite intro to a track on this album is on Grim and Dark. The soothing guitaring at the the start of the song sets the stage for the vocal assault that follows it closely accompanied by some of the fiercest drumming I have heard on this album yet. Even as the song progresses, it will bind you and keep you attached to this incredible sound. That does not even do the song the justice that it deserves. The lyrics to this adds another layer to it – so poetic.
Where Mountains Rise reminded me a lot of the Immortal that I got to know and love. The sound is so pure and true to where they are from. It defines their music in a way that cannot be put into any words. All I can say is listen to it. Feel it.
The album closes of with the epic, Mighty Ravendark. It is by far the longest track on the album, but trust me, that does not matter when it sounds this amazing. A slow and clean intro bursting into beautiful black tremolo picking. This is a very fitting end to this album and I think it officially marks a new era of Immortal.
In Conclusion – Northern Chaos Gods:
This album is definitely not the Immortal that you would expect. This is in my opinion a ton better. It feels a bit more raw, yet absolutely pure in comparison to the previous albums. This is an album that I can see will stay on many playlists for a long time.
Album review for Immortal's Northern Chaos Gods, released on July 6th, 2018
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Nordic Metal Review
Summary
It’s been a long wait since Immortal’s previous album was released and in a sense, it is a good thing. A lot has changed in the band since that album and I believe that all of this time gave them the chance to alter their sound and adapt to what they had to work with. They are incredible musicians and this album is more proof of that.
User Review
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Label:
Nuclear Blast
Track list:
- Northern Chaos Gods
- Into Battle Ride
- Gates to Blashyrkh
- Grim and Dark
- Called to Ice
- Where Mountains Rise
- Blacker of Worlds
- Mighty Ravendark
Line-up:
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