vote
8.5
- Bands:
IMMORTAL - Duration: 00:38:07
- Available from: 05/26/2023
- Label:
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Nuclear explotion
Stream not yet available
The most recent developments in the long saga of this gang have confirmed the definitive transformation of Immortal into a one-man gang, also from a legal point of view. Once this has been established, and confirmed during the interview -which you will soon be able to read on these pages- that there will hardly be setbacks and reunions, the music must speak for itself and luckily “War Against All” is the record we could expect, or in the one we expected even better after the excellent result of the previous “Northern Chaos God”.
We start from there again, and from all the premises already made by Demonaz once he found himself alone in command of the band: an increasingly epic sound, indebted to the eternal Maestro Quorthon, declined in eight songs that in our opinion manage to put agree fans of all phases and sounds of the band and who demonstrate the intellectual honesty of the founder of the band: a musician who above all makes good music, which satisfies him, and who later finds favor with the public, without going slavishly to reply complete iconic records of the past. And he’s going to turn out, unsurprisingly, an even more compelling and varied result, in our opinion, than the first ‘reset’ record.
For the precise description of the songs, we’ve already gone far enough in our recently published podcast and track-by-track analysis, so we’re trying to pull the grand sums here. “War Against All” showcases a consistent band, with Kevin Kvåle (Gaahls Wyrd, From The Vastland) backing Demonaz behind the skin and Ice Dale of Enslaved on bass and production, as was the case on the previous album. As Demonaz specifies, all the songs were already ready, but the contribution is felt during the recording phase and the guitarist and composer himself has confirmed that he considers the two, if not official members in all respects, reliable traveling companions… such sometimes even in extra-studio contexts. With total compositional freedom, but at the same time a clear idea of how to carry out Blashyrk’s narrative, here we are greeted by a furious initial double double, with the main song and “Thunders Of Darkness” to re-propose a very classic one. walks and pressing.
The following sequence of songs moves on slower rhythms, but full of pathos and Viking atmosphere; in fact, we corrected a hypothesis made in the track-by-track, since Demonaz confirmed to us that, once again, there are no synths or keyboards, but layered guitar layers. Confirming that, according to Bathory’s lesson, you don’t need special effects to excite.
“Nordlandihr” is probably the most elaborate piece (and longest, mind you) on the album, with a certain flavor of the Enslaved, despite the fact that the bassist did not participate in the composition phase; and certainly adds elements of interest to the long saga of Immortal. And precisely “Immortal” is the iconic, dark and violent song that leads us to the conclusion of the album; again he plays a ‘suite’ full of arpeggios and with one of the most intense riffs on the album to close the circle: let’s talk about “Blashyrkh, My Throne!”, at the end of which we almost have to sweep the snow off our clothes Regretting having reached the end.
According to tradition, it takes less than forty minutes for the Immortals to plunge us back into their unique, icy, and dark universe, offering us a hectic journey for which, fortunately, the helmsman painted with the name of Demonaz has not lost his compass. .
