Single Slam – Northern Chaos Gods by Immortal (Northern Chaos Gods)

Norwegian black metallers, Immortal, have released the first single from their upcoming and hotly anticipated new album, Northern Chaos Gods. The single is also the title track from the album that will be released on the 9th of July via Nuclear Blast.

Northern Chaos Gods will be Immortal’s 9th full length studio album and is also the bands first release in 9 years. The last bit of music from these guys came in 2009 with the album All Shall Fall. We would likely have had music a lot earlier but for some troubles in the band that saw them split with frontman Abbath (Olve Eikemo) in 2014. Abbath has gone on to have a very successful solo career since with the release of his debut album called Abbath. Follow the link to read our thoughts on that one.

That leaves Immortal as a two piece with Demonaz (Harald Nævdal) on guitars and vocals and Horgh (Reidar Horghagen) on drums. The new album was produced, mixed and mastered by Peter Tägtgren. Peter produced many past albums for Immortal including All Shall Fall and Sons of Northern Darkness and also provides the session bass for this album.

In a statement released by Demonaz and Horgh, they reaffirmed their commitment to all things black metal and Immortal. “We are eternally dedicated to Immortal and our own musical past. The album is conceptual, and the first step in reclaiming our past grimness and attitude. Loyalty to the fans and our own musical history is very significant in this. Our new album will soon be available, with songs from the very gates of Blashyrkh – the realm of all darkness and cold.”

Northern Chaos Gods is 4 and a half minutes long and is extremely dark and heavy. Starting straight off with huge waves of blasting drums and a viciously quick picked riff, you are given little time to settle in. The riffs are dark and demonic while the drums affect you like you are being repeatedly punched in the cranium. Vocals are vicious and guttural and the bass is thick, laying a solid foundation for Demonaz and Horgh to blast our minds with their wintry attack.

You definitely get the sense that Immortal are harking back to their passed days with Northern Chaos Gods. It is brilliantly old school black metal. The riffs are excellent throughout proving Demonaz to be best placed with that guitar in hand. Despite how crushingly heavy the whole track is, it all ties together perfectly with a mix that is not polished at all but also not so raw, it becomes painful to listen to. Just sit back and enjoy Immortal being Immortal and showing that the loss of Abbath will in no way be holding them back.

Northern Chaos Gods is viciously dark and crunchingly heavy. Black metal at it’s finest. There is no holding back here. Ferocious drums, oozing bass, intense riffing and growls that will curdle milk all packed into 4 and a half minutes of savagery. It isn’t often a band split is a good thing. You have to think, though, that the real winners in the Abbath vs Immortal battle are us listeners as we now get them both.

You can check out Northern Chaos Gods at Nuclear Blast’s YouTube page here. The single is also available on all the streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify. You can also preorder the new album from Nuclear Blast here. Finally, pick up the single, the album preorder and more from Immortal at the Amazon links below. Find out more about Immortal at their website, Facebook and Twitter pages.

[amazon_link asins=’B07CL4B46Y,B07CXYN47J,B00005V6QB,B002HVEUV0,B000007120,B001LX8UIO,B07CXYMY1N’ template=’UseThisOne’ store=’g0e5b-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’55fa303d-568c-11e8-a4b8-a713fbbc35d1′]