It's been three years since Immortal front man Abbath decided to blow the black flame out on his mighty band. The news was met with utter devastation amongst the black metal fraternity. All had been rather quite on the Northern front until early this year when we heard that Abbath was returning with his new project, simply known as "I". Furthermore, with Immortal reforming for some European festivals, it appears that their absence is nothing more than some protracted hiatus. As we wait the next Immortal instalment, you can be certain that 'I' and their debut full length 'Between Two Worlds' will make up for any lost ground.
Clearly, 'I' is Abbath's baby, but do not discount the involvement of his band mates. A veritable Black Metal all-star line up if you will - "I" includes Abbath's former comrades in Demonaz (lyrics) and Armagedda plus TC King (ex-Gorgoroth) and Ice Dale from Enslaved. For me, 'Between Two Worlds' is much more than I expected. I have had this album on high rotation for the past two months - and as far as making a judgement on the 'riff' album of the year, this one will take some beating. There is some truly infectious material captured here. The rollicking opening of 'Storm I Ride' is simply unbeatable and the title tracks main riff has a groove the size of the Grand Canyon. Just two memorable highlights among many.
Surprisingly enough 'BTW' is no underground hatchet job. Forget your buzzing 'cvlt' black metal sound - in line with latter day Immortal productions (this one with the aid of Peter Tagtgren no less) - BTW is actually a pretty slick piece of modern day black metal; too slick for some maybe. Needless to say, 'I' is not Immortal so you will find Abbath employing a serious dose of mid-tempo rock n roll elements (ala Motorhead) combined with some epic style ventures the likes of Bathory's Quorthon would applaud - 'Far Beyond The Quiet' is even dedicated to the now fallen Black Metal godfather.
If there is any difficulty that some may find with 'I' it is with Abbath's vocals. Personally I have no beef at all, but in donning the 'audience' hat, I can see that Abbath's gruff monotone approach might be a little too 'acquired' for some. Basically he sounds like a blackened version of Lemmy Kilmister - no Immortal-like shrieks to be found on this one folks - this album calls for a 'rock n roll' approach and whilst Abbath doesn't quite have the range, I find his style quite amusing. Fortunately, the overall strength of the song writing easily outweighs any misgivings you might have vocally.
'Between Two Worlds' will easily fall in my Top 10 for this year. Its musical qualities are far too infectious for me to ignore. No doubt, every Immortal fan on the planet will be investigating this with an even more glaring eye than mine. Some will be blown away and the hardcore fans will just up the ante on calling for Immortal's quick return. Until then, I'm quite content to let this record repeatedly kick my ass!!
*Watch out for the Digi/Limited Edition which features 3 bonus tracks.
- Krozza
(See reviewer's scoring method)
