Everyone’s favourite unholy Norsk clowns Immortal are back with a blast – switching gears and slowing down to the tempo of their first Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism record, the Doom Occulta brothers go for the Epic Metalä approach – and it sounds fucking killer. Demonaz is out of the game, apparently, due to a wrist-eating fungus, but he still manages to contribute his nebular snowmen lyrics – and Immortal fans like myself will be pleased to know his command of English grammar hasn’t improved. Abbath, then, takes over on guitar duties and gives us a less frenetic but more measured playing style that works damn well. 6 songs, all above the 6-minute mark, and what we get is by far the longest Immortal album to date (which, on the heels of the 28-minute Blizzard Beasts ‘LP’ really doesn’t actually say a whole fuckload of a lot). Listening to this record, you’d have to be wearing Fubus around your knees and a badass hip-hop stocking on your head not to let a big, cheesy grim and frostbitten grin cross your face at least once. Songs like ‘Withstand the Fall of Time’, the title track (amazing intro), and ‘Years of Silent Sorrow’ freeze piss with their icy melodic epic METAL blasphemy – pickslides, unholy solos, and yeah - blastbeats - are all to be enjoyed here – and I now know what I had some trouble in believing before - that Immortal can slow down and still rule.

Much respect to the band for being perhaps the first act to truly make use of the wildly overused Tagtgren/Abyss studios production – the sound is clear, cold and jagged - like ice. It adds to what Abbath and imminent fashion model sensation / drummer Horgh have created here – the blackmetal soundtrack to winter. This may be Immortal’s finest work… and THAT says more than a thousand fuckin’ words.

They and Blashyrkh can hold onto their grim nebular raventhrones for as long as they goddamn well please.

© 2000 ibex erik