 |
|
October 12, 2008 |
 |
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
01. The Storm I Ride
02. Warriors
03. Between Two Worlds
04. Battalions
05. Mountains
06. Days Of North Winds
07. Far Beyond The Quiet
08. Cursed We Are
|
|
I've never really had much use for IMMORTAL, ENSLAVED, or GORGOROTH. They've had their moments: GORGOROTH had that Polish concert debacle; ENSLAVED has good music undercut by awful vocals; and I've enjoyed the various Photoshop manipulations of IMMORTAL pictures; but they never did anything for me as bands. Imagine my surprise, then, when I hear I, a project featuring current or former members of those three outfits - and loved it!
IMMORTAL's Abbath is the main guy here, on vocals and guitars, along with guitarist Ice Dale from ENSLAVED; ubiquitous bassist King from SAHG and GORGOROTH; and, also from IMMORTAL, Armagedda on drums and Demonaz on pen (he wrote the lyrics). With that amount of talent, they had to come up with something at least half-decent. They did even better than that, though, taking the very best aspects of Rock and combining them with the very best aspects of Black Metal. It's been a banner year for Black n' Roll (SAHG, SATYRICON, and WITCHERY), but I really nailed down the sound.
In a way, it's fitting that they start things off with an appropriated KISS lick. While the rest of the record doesn't sound much like KISS, it does sound like KISS would sound if they sounded like they looked. Abbath's vocals approximate a slightly less whiskey-soaked Lemmy, fitting the music nicely. Songs like, "The Storm I Ride", "Between Two Worlds", and "Days Of North Winds" feature dual guitar work worthy of classic PRIEST or MAIDEN, before they went all Progressive. Armagedda deserves special credit for avoiding blastbeats entirely and sticking to a nice, steady gallop. Altogether, they lay down a groove that literally does not stop until the last song does. That groove tends to make the songs run together, but you'll be too busy headbanging to care. The crystal-clear production helps the whole band sound like they're performing on top of a frozen glacier, giving it that frosty Black Metal feel and proving that Metal can be evil without being recorded in a garage.
"Between Two Worlds" provides pure listening pleasure, a real feat from musicians whose usual projects aim for the exact opposite. This is absolutely essential for anyone who doesn't think there's much left to be done with either Rock or Black Metal. It's almost a shame that IMMORTAL reunited, because I can't wait to see what these guys come up with next.
|
|
|
|
