Immortal is a black metal band from Bergen
, Norway
. The
band was formed by Abbathand Demonaz Doom Occulta after their
previous band, Amputation, did not take off.
Biography
Immortal's beginnings can be traced to the death metal band
Old Funeral, formed in 1988, in which
both Abbath and Demonaz were members. The band's frontman Abbath
also formed the band Amputation in 1989, releasing two demos before
deciding to form Immortal. This new band consisted of band members
from both Amputation and Old Funeral. Though remaining members of
Old Funeral attempted to keep the band alive, they dissolved prior
Immortal's first demo releases.
Immortal's
early full-length releases were of a traditional black metal style,
but their acclaimed album At
the Heart of Winter saw the band begin to experiment with
a complex fusion of black metal and German
thrash metal. The resulting sound was a
style which characterized Immortal's later works. Immortal has been
influential to many modern metal artists. The band has arguably
maintained the most occult-mysticism image and way of life
traditionally credited to black metal. Conversely, unlike many
black metal bands, Immortal does not espouse Satanism.
They are often noted as having created their own niche in black
metal which has guaranteed them a spot on the list of the best
bands in the history of the genre. Several classic albums such as
Pure Holocaust,
Battles In The North,
At The
Heart Of Winter and
Sons Of Northern Darkness also
help to solidify their status. With recent (2006) mid-price
reissues of their classic back catalog in major markets, their
music is now much more widely available. A defining feature of the
band is their lyrics that focus on an imaginary world that is
plagued by war and suffering, called Blashyrkh, ruled by the Mighty
Ravendark, which is inspired by Demonaz's daily walks in the icy
Norwegian forests that surround his home. Their over the top
appearance with
corpse paint and the
cult status of their artwork (such as the album cover of
Battles in the North
and the cover and internal artwork of
At The Heart Of Winter) has also
contributed to their notability. The band has also distanced itself
from the criminal activities and controversy that is usually
associated with black metal. There have been a few minor
controversies with members of Immortal after they have left the
band, such as original rhythm guitarist Jørn's conviction of church
burning, as well as Erik "Grim" Brødreskift's suicide in
1999.
Amputation recorded their first two demos in 1989 with
Demonaz Doom Occulta on guitar and
vocals,
Jørn Inge Tunsberg on
guitars, and Padden on drums. The group later reformed as Immortal
around 1990–1991, adding Abbath Doom Occulta on bass and lead
vocals and replacing Padden with Armagedda. They released their
self-titled EP in 1991 which
saw a stylistic change to black metal. This was followed by their
debut album
Diabolical
Fullmoon Mysticism in 1992 which is similar in style to
the following two albums but many have noted it is slower than
later recordings. While Jørn had already left the band, his guitar
parts were left on the record even though he was not credited in
the album insert.
Gradually, Immortal gained immense popularity in the underground,
partly due to their infamous music video for
The Call of the Wintermoon
(though the TV station which aired the video proceeded to mock the
band in the following interview and labeled them as "Satanists".)
In describing the band's sound, stand-in drummer Kolgrim said the
band's style was that of "Pure Holocaust Metal" which found its way
onto the bands next album,
Pure
Holocaust, which itself is seen as a genre-defining
milestone. The album was recorded by Demonaz and Abbath although
they found Grim just a few weeks afterwards and he was put on the
cover photo shoot. The next album,
Battles in the North was also
recorded by only Abbath and Demonaz as Grim had been asked to leave
as they felt he could not help them move their music forward. Grim
committed suicide in 1999 (although not due the fact that he had
been fired from Immortal). There is a music festival in his memory,
the Hole in the Sky Festival, which Immortal frequently headline,
most recently in 2007.
In 1995,
the band released two video clips directed by British
artist David Palser, entitled Masters of
Nebulah Frost, through Osmose Productions. They
featured many bizarrely-shot images of frozen landscapes and vast
forests with the band performing two songs from the album
Battles In The North, "Grim And Frostbitten Kingdoms" and
"Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark)" on a Norwegian mountainside. The
video for "Grim And Frostbitten Kingdoms" features
Mayhem drummer
Hellhammer. These clips have become the
template for many other bands producing such works, similarly to
how "The Call Of The Wintermoon" is also highly influential.
Hellhammer toured with the band for
Battles In The North
and was asked to join by Abbath and Demonaz but declined.
Apart from the two core members
Abbath
and Demonaz, Immortal did not find a stable lineup until 1996, when
drummer
Horgh joined the band. Horgh joined
the band in time to actually play on the record
Blizzard Beasts which was Immortal's
first real experimental style, combing the sound of Immortal's
three albums before it with a death metal style sound. It was not
critically acclaimed although in time it has become more popular
with fans. A major turning point for the band was in 1997 when
Demonaz (then main lyricist and
guitarist) suffered acute
tendinitis in his arm and was unable to continue
playing. Despite this, he has continued writing lyrics and has been
a manager for the band, accompanying them on tour, releasing
updates and giving interviews about how things are progressing with
the band.
Bassist Abbath took over the
guitar duty. Abbath and Horgh wrote and recorded the band's next
album,
At The Heart Of
Winter. This album was very different from what had come
before as it sounded much closer to thrash metal than any album
before or after it and was extremely well met by fans and critics
alike. During the tours for this album, the band recruited Iscariah
to stand in for bass duties and were suitably impressed with his
skills that they made him a full time member.
The next album, and first with Iscariah,
Damned In Black was more similar to
their old style but kept many thrashy elements as well as some
death metal influences. It was well received but is frequently
overlooked as it came between two of their classic albums,
At
The Heart Of Winter and
Sons Of Northern Darkness.
In 2000,
Immortal signed a record contract with German label
Nuclear Blast; this change to a more
prominent record company didn't affect their style, a fact proven
by their record Sons of
Northern Darkness. Two months after this, Iscariah
announced his intention to leave the band and was replaced by
Saroth for the next few months.
Immortal decided to split during the summer of 2003 for various
personal reasons of the band members. However, in mid-October 2005,
Abbath, Demonaz, and original Immortal drummer Armagedda reunited,
and along with
Gorgoroth bassist
King ov Hell and
Enslaved guitarist
Ice Dale (Arve Isdal), they began work on a
new project, dubbed
I. This new band
entered the studio at the end of April 2006 to record their debut
album,
Between Two
Worlds, released in November 2006. Demonaz also features
as lyricist for the band.
In early June 2006 came word via the German magazine
Rock Hard that Abbath, Demonaz and
Horgh had decided to resurrect Immortal once more. Abbath is quoted
as saying:
In July 2006 it was announced that Immortal would reunite for a
string of summer shows in 2007.
They headlined the Inferno Festival in April, the Tuska Open Air
festival in June/July, Metal
Camp festival in July, and the Wacken Open Air
festival in August. They also performed
twice in the United
States
in July 2007. Filling in as bassist for
these dates was the
Aura Noir bassist
Apollyon. Immortal have since
announced the band's first tour of Australia and New Zealand in
March 2008.
After the reunion, Abbath and Horgh decided to reform the band on a
permanent basis. This was confirmed by Demonaz in an interview with
Eternal Terror
[20721].
Apollyon is the permanent replacement
for Iscariah, and the three began working with Demonaz on material
for their next album
All Shall
Fall.All Shall Fall was recorded in April-May 2009, and was
released on September 25, 2009.
According to Decibel Magazine's interview, work has begun on
Immortal's ninth album stating in the article "four new songs
already in the works for a follow-up to All Shall Fall,"
Immortal
were one of the first bands to be confirmed for Wacken Open Air 2010.
Discography
Full-length albums
EPs
Splits
Demos
- Achieve The Mutilation (as Amputation) (1989)
- Slaughter In The Arms Of God (as Amputation)
(1990)
- The Northern Upins Death (1990)
- Promo '91 / Suffocate (1991)
Home video
Members
Current members
Past members
- Iscariah (Stian Smørholm) - bass guitar (1999–2002)
- Saroth (Yngve Liljebäck) - bass guitar (live, 2002–2003)
- Ares - bass guitar (live, 1998; lead singer of Aeternus)
- Hellhammer (Jan Axel Blomberg)
- drums (live, 1995)
- Grim (Erik Brødreskift) -
drums (live, 1993–1994) (deceased)
- Kolgrim - drums (demo, 1992)
- Jörn Tonsberg - guitar (demo,
1989–1991)
- Armagedda - drums (1990–1992)
Membership timeline
1989
(as Amputation) |
|
| 1990–1991 |
- Abbath Doom Occulta –
vocals, bass guitar
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lead guitar
- Jørn Tunsberg – rhythm guitar
- Armagedda – drums
|
| 1991–1992 |
- Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, bass guitar
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lead guitar, lyrics
- Armagedda – drums
|
| 1992–1993 |
- Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, bass guitar
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lead guitar, lyrics
- Kolgrim – drums
|
| 1993 |
- Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, bass guitar, drums
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lead guitar, lyrics
|
| 1993–1995 |
- Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, bass guitar, drums
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lead guitar, lyrics
- Grim – drums
|
| 1995–1996 |
- Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, bass guitar, drums
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lead guitar, lyrics
- Hellhammer – drums (touring
member only)
|
| 1996–1997 |
- Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, bass guitar
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lead guitar, lyrics
- Horgh – drums
|
| 1997–1998 |
- Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, guitar
- Horgh – drums
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lyrics
- Ares – bass guitar (touring member only)
|
| 1998–1999 |
- Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, guitar
- Horgh – drums
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lyrics
- Iscariah – bass guitar (touring member only)
|
| 1999–2002 |
- Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, guitar
- Horgh – drums
- Iscariah – bass guitar
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lyrics
|
| 2002–2003 |
- Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, guitar
- Horgh – drums
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lyrics
- Saroth – bass guitar (touring member only)
|
| 2006–2007 |
- Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, guitar
- Horgh – drums
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lyrics
- Apollyon – bass guitar
(touring member only)
|
| 2007–present |
- Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, guitar
- Horgh – drums
- Apollyon – bass guitar
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lyrics
|
References
- Band biography at the Encyclopedia
Metallum
- Band biography at the Encyclopedia
Metallum
External links
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
