Description

Official Polish pressed music cassette. Blue cassette with white text. Limited 120 copies

Immortal has been one of the most important black metal bands in the world since the release of their first demo ‘The Northern Upins Death’ in 1990. The band was founded by Abbath Doom Occulta and Demonaz Doom Occulta, and together with different drummers this core line up released the first three legendary albums, ‘Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism’ (1992), ‘Pure Holocaust’ (1993) and ‘Battles In The North’ (1995). Drummer Horgh joined the band in 1996, turning out to be the perfect match and together they released the ‘Blizzard beasts’ album in 1997. However, fate struck as Demonaz was diagnosed with tendinitis and could no longer play guitar at the speed required for Immortal, but he still continued to work with the lyrics. Thus, Abbath changed from bass to guitars and the band continued with several guitar players over the years, releasing albums like ‘At The Heart Of Winter’ (1999), ‘Damned In Black’ (2000) and ‘Sons Of Northern Darkness’ (2002). The band was put on ice in 2003 but returned to the stage in 2007, playing the ‘7 dates of Blashyrkh’ comeback tour which was followed by headlining appearances at several major European festivals, sold out shows in the U.S. and a tour of Australia and New Zealand. The return album ‘All Shall Fail’ is a true epic statement that’s one of the best metal releases of 2009. The production on All Shall Fall is a thousand miles from the caveman blare of ‘Battles in the North’; they’re making truly larger-than-life music as befits their pro-wrestler/barbarian-warrior image. They’re writing even better riffs than before, too; ‘The Rise of Darkness’ and ‘Norden on Fire’ add a post-punk flavor, almost reminiscent of early Killing Joke, to their raucous metal barrages. The guitar solos are excellent, too, supported by crushing double bass drumming from Horgh, and the judicious deployment of sound effects (the charging horses on ‘Hordes of War’, for example, or the blowing winter winds on ‘Mount North’) makes the album even more dramatic and absorbing. As with all of Immortal’s work, a frigid cold seems to blow from the speakers with every note. This is music of such unrelenting and merciless power, you might not even notice how vocalist/guitarist Abbath occasionally sounds quite a bit like Popeye the Sailor

Track listing:
1. All Shall Fall
2. The Rise of Darkness
3. Hordes to War
4. Norden On Fire
5. Arctic Swarm
6. Mount North
7. Unearthly Kingdom