Immortal – War Against All

Written by on 26-05-2023 at 20:29.

The gates of Blashyrkh have opened once again! ‘Grim and frostbitten’ Immortal releases the tenth studio album, titled War Against All. Five years after the mighty Northern Chaos Gods, which was seen as the resurrection of the band by Demonaz and Horgh. This time it is Demonaz alone (together with session musicians). What kind of ice cold surprises are lurking around the corners of the frosty crevasses of Norway?

When the title track of the album was released two months ago, it definitely got the blood pumping. Furious drums and nasty chords and chops on the guitars create that cold and icy atmosphere. Demonaz enhances this feeling even further with his horrifying vocals. It’s a lot to take in, though for listeners of earlier work it is definitely a familiar sound. A good warm-up, one could say. Then comes the most energetic and catchy track I have ever heard of this band: Thunders of Darkness. It is quite funny that one of the guitar riffs in the blazing fast parts got stuck in my head so easily and I find myself humming along with the riff. Listen to the song, you will probably know which guitar riff I am referring to! So far, this is my favorite track, for sure!

A sort of a break appears with Wargod. The tempo is reduced temporarily, allowing us to catch our breath. When I am listening to this track, I cannot help but feel this is somewhat of a summary of Immortal throughout the decades. A lot of familiarities to different albums from the past can be heard in this track. It somewhat feels more as a homage to older times than a part of the album. What follows, however, is the pure evil called No Sun. Cause who needs the sun anyways? Ask the Finns how they feel about that during winter time! Another mid-tempo banger comes with Return To Cold. Although not as grim as some of the other tracks so far, it certainly has groove and a high factor of headbang worthy material.

Interestingly, we are then presented with a fully instrumental track, called Nordlandihr. A full seven minutes, no less! A little bit risky, if you ask me, as seven minutes is a long time to keep an instrumental track interesting. For the most part it actually manages this quite nicely! Though I would have hoped for a bit more complex riffing for the main melody lines. The somewhat more melodic guitar solo halfway through the song, I do appreciate a lot! No random fretboard shredding but thought out melodies and patterns. It compliments the song and keeps it dynamic at the point where I would have wished for more diversity. True grim and frostbitten black metal comes with the track, Immortal. It sums up all that is evil and rotten and is definitely a track you should listen to on repeat. In true Immortal style we close the album with Blashyrkh My Throne: a track that might be portraying the band’s history in the best way possible. It might be less furious than other songs of the band and the song structure might be again quite familiar, but it somehow keeps my attention every time I listen to it.

It’s been a difficult task to score this album. It’s predecessor, Northern Chaos Gods, was an immensely strong comeback in my opinion, but this new release feels more of a compilation or ‘best of’ album in some places. It feels as if it has not managed to be on par with or succeed previous work and contains less renewal than I hoped for. Now, I might sound overly negative, but please note that I still really enjoyed listening to the album! And with only 38 minutes of playtime, it is definitely over before you realize it. It is when I compare it against earlier work (especially the last album) that I feel this release is a bit less strong. I think this experience is because I sincerely hoped for an upward trend.

And there you go… five years after the gates of Blashyrkh were opened once again by Demonaz and Horgh, the by now legendary Immortal returns with War Against All. Though only Demonaz is left, the release sounds just as grim and frostbitten as ever. Icy cold tunes and chilling vocals with raging drums! Maybe a little bit less strong, but definitely one I would recommend listening to! And now the million dollar question: will we ever see Immortal perform again? Personally, I do not think so. If that is indeed the case, then at least there are the albums to listen to, including War Against All!

Score:

84/100

Label:

Nuclear Blast Records, 2023

Tracklisting:

  1. War Against All
  2. Thunders Of Darkness
  3. Wargod
  4. No Sun
  5. Return To Cold
  6. Nordlandihr
  7. Immortal
  8. Blashyrkh My Throne

Line-up:

  • Demonaz – Zang, gitaar

Links: