Album review: Immortal – War Against All

By DAN SOUTHALL

THE story of the dissolution and resurrection of Black Metal legends Immortal is one that doesn’t really need retelling. Fans ended up with two similar sounding acts after the dust settled.

Immortal is now only original member Demonaz (Harald Nævdal) with help in the studio on this album from Enslaved’s Ice Dale (Arve Isdal) and session drums from Kevin Kvåle. So what does this mean for the band? Nothing really, as Immortal has always been Demonaz’ baby and he continues unabated as cold as ever.

Getting down to business, the title track digs deep into the riff vault and speeds along true to the early form of the band with an energy that was evident on previous album Northern Chaos Gods. This energy continues through on follow up track ‘Thunders of Darkness’ that has a very similar riff to its predecessor, tying the two tracks together tightly and creating a great album opening sequence.

Unfortunately, from here it all gets a bit, well, boring. Demonaz decides to fall back on mid-period tropes his band once relied on with a slower more atmospheric sound that, while not all bad, lacks a dynamic that keeps the listener tuned in and focused on what is going on musically. It all just blends in to one plodding mess. What should to be a highlight in the instrumental “Nordlandihr” starts out with something different before pummelling the listener with a variation of the same riff for the next six minutes, becoming the meaning of filler.

Immortal had a lot to prove on their last album, and, it could be argued, still should be doing their best to push on and continue to prove the nay-sayers right. This album doesn’t do that. If anything, it feels lazy and missing an element, if that is drummer Horgh’s input or the personality of Abbath will be up to the individual but whatever it is, I hope Immortal finds it again soon, because beyond the opening salvo, there is nothing of genuine interest here.