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 Expanding Horizons July 8, 2003 |
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Norwegian Black Metal is a term that is likely known to many metal fans. However, to some of those who are not listeners and have limited knoweledge of the genre,
a prejudicial mentality seems to have been created due to the criminal activities of some BM bands, in the process hurting the genre's integrity.
It is important to emphasize Norwegian because while Venom coined the phrase "Black Metal" with its 1982 release, the sound is
considerably different to the brand of music that is considered Black Metal by today's standards. Perhaps the closest "older band" comparison would be Bathory, another
known black metal band of the 80s which influenced the Norwegian Black Metal movement. Immortal finds itself predominantly as the pioneer of Norwegian Black Metal. Immortal's (originally named Amputation) jounrey into the world of metal started in 1990 with singer/bass guitarist Abbath (ex-Old Funeral) and Demonaz (guitars), along with Armaggeda (drums) and Jørn (guitars). The band was only briefly a four-piece band. Their next two formative years proved quite crucial. In 1991 the band recorded two demos--the first one was called "Suffocate," and the second one "The Northern Upins Death". Later that year they were discovered by the French label "Listenable Records" which offered the band a chance to record a 7" single. By 1992 the band had signed a two album deal with another French label, "Osmose Records." The deal later got extended to more albums and the band was featured on the label for nearly a decade until changing to Nuclear Blast. Immortal has always concentrated their energy on the positive side, the realm of creating good quality, comprehendable black metal music, and have never associated with any of the criminal activities sparked by such infamous names as Varg. In fact it could be said that Immortal never followed any rules at all, much less any of the Black Metal rules that some puritists of the genre strongly abide by. While the fans call them Black Metal, the band does not associate with the term for the most part because they do not feel their music needs to be labeled as anything other than Metal. At some point in time, a temporary member of the band coined the term 'Holocaust Metal', which created some controversy, yet it had nothing to do with the Jewish Holocaust and the band has since departed from the term.
Immortal's themes are based around the nature and the natural enviroments of their homeland, or rather of the world they invented called Blashyrk, a
Immortal's music and image is deeply influenced by the 80s metal decade, by bands ranging from early extreme metal bands such as Possessed, Venom, Bathory, Slayer, and Celtic Frost to bands such as KISS, Iron Maiden, and Manowar. During the earlier part of their career Immortal played a very fast and aggressive style combined with a raw production to the give the sound a natural feel. As they years went by, the band gradually departed from the raw sound, progressing and allowing for more experimentation. What I like so much is how well they use their old school influences. The raw element of bands such as Possessed, Celtic Frost, and Morbid Angel is brought to different levels with both ultra-thrashy riffs and melodic elements. You won't get Van Halen or Yngwie Malmsteen guitar-hero solos in Immortal, but that's also not what the band is about. Not only is the atmosphere of their songs cold, but it feels natural, especially on earlier albums such as "Battles in the North" and "Blizzard Beasts" where the songs sound as if they were recorded somewhere in the mountains under the open sky. It is in fact true that the band likes playing in the wilderness of Norway. Some may ask, what is with all the corpsepaint? The technical term for the makeup Immortal uses is "War Paint" which, as Abbath mentioned in various interviews, they created before any other Norwegian Black Metal act started using such makeup (the term corpsepaint is more associated with Mayhem than Immortal). Some may view it as goofy; however, it is an identity for each band member. The "War Paint" as well as the dress code of Immortal was influenced by KISS and Manowar, as Abbath recounts that as a teenager he was a huge Gene Simmons fan and his entire room was covered in KISS and Gene Simmons posters. He is also a big Manowar, and ever since picking up Manowar's 'Into Glory Ride' he has been fascinated with the barbarian look.
Once signed with Osmose Records, the band released their first full-length album 'Diabolical Full Moon Mysticism,' drawing many influences
from Bathory. It comes as no secret that the band listened almost exclusively to Bathory while writing the album. A similar style was followed on 'Pure Holocaust,' one of
The dawn of Immortal's earlier part of their career came with 'Blizzard Beasts' in 1997, the band's first landmark. The album displays the
band's progression from being an underground act with two demos under their bullet-belts, to being recognized as pioneers of the Norwegian Black Metal scene.
'Blizzard Beasts' took the sound to a completely new and more accessible (read: catchier) level, yet kept the raw and unpolished sound. The album was much more melodic and
With a stable drummer sharing the same vision, and with Abbath now being the only original remaining member,
the band opened the second chapter of their career with 'At the Heart of Winter' in 1999. The production quality shifted from raw to a more polished sound. The music
Undoubtedly the biggest breakthrough for Immortal came with 'Sons of Northern Darkness,' their best selling album with over 150,000 copies sold. The band has been nominated twice for a Norwegian Grammy award, the second time in early 2003 alongside Satyricon. Some black metal puritists have viewed these favorable popularity changes as a big mistake for Immortal, and in certain ways some people may view the band a bit like Metallica after the Black Album. However, Immortal has never followed the rules of black metal; they created their own rules, sound, image, and their own world.
Some of the contained information was compiled from various Immortal fan sites, with the bulk of it from interviews given by the band to metal magazines and webzines throughout the past decade. As big of a fan of Immortal as I may be, I did not set out to write an exhaustive article on every minor detail surrounding the band, rather choosing to focus on the more important issues.Many thanks to the following frostbitten kingdoms:
Maelstorm (www.maelstorm.nu)
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world of eternal cold and ice where various "blizzard beasts" lurk. The band does not write about overly done satanic themes.
As Abbath pointed out in various interviews, the bandmembers are not Satanists. They don't believe in God, but they are not anti-christian; they have their own beliefs
and their own views, and they very much respect other people's beliefs and views. 
the band's most brutal and raw displays of their sound. By the third release, 'Battles in the North' in 1995, the band had extended their initial two album deal with Osmose
and slowly started forging their signature sound. While still raw in its nature and aggressive in its style, the music opened up to catchier elements. The album cover
features Abbath and Demonaz and was shot outside on the mountain. The photo was taken by Abbath's father. With this cover, many have wondered whether Abbath
and Demonaz are brothers, but the answer is "No!" They do have a close friendship with one another, however, and they consider each other blood brothers. 
atmospheric in style, combining fast aggressive guitar work with cold atmospheric keyboards. The band had also finally benefitted from a stable drummer, Horgh,
although he took no part in the songwriting as he arrived in the later stages of the process. The same year Immortal also lost a dedicated member and blood brother.
While rehearsing for the 'Blizzard Beasts' tour, Demonaz developed tendonitis which impaired him from playing guitar. Despite all the best efforts, Demonaz was never
able to recover in time for the tour. Demonaz has since been on a path to recovery; however, he can never return to playing guitar at the level he used to. Spiritually he is
still a member of the band. He has a great role in the songwriting process and also does management work for the band. 'Blizzard Beasts' ends the first chapter of
Immortal.
transformed to a deeper melodic, slower sound with various shades of speed from the earlier part of their career. Asked why the need to change, Abbath's response
has ever since been that Immortal does not stay in one place at any time; the band constantly matures and develops new playing techniques. This growing
professionalism continued to be displayed over the next two albums, 'Damned in Black' in 2000 and 'Sons of Northern Darkness' in 2002, with
both albums sharing better production qualities and new musical variety. In the second chapter the line-up has become somewhat more stable as a three-piece
ensemble, with Ischaria joining the band and laying down the bass on 'Damned in Black' and 'Sons of Northern Darkness'. Ischaria recently departed from Immortal
after the release of 'Sons,' however, and has been replaced by the Swedish bass player Saroth.
One by One
