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IMMORTAL
War Against All

Nuclear Blast (2023)
Rating: 9/10

The landscape inhabited by Norway’s Immortal has always been cold, dark and ancient; a place of pristine snow, driving blizzards and black ice. These elements have always filtered into their music and so it’ll be no surprise to anyone that the tenth full length outing, War Against All, results in another severe case of frostbite.

Such sniping energy is all down to mainman Demonaz who no doubt has been holed up in some tundra tomb and planning aural Armageddon as evidenced on the scathing title track which has the subtlety of being slapped around the face by a thorn bush on a winter’s night. As one has come to expect, any Immortal outing is the definition of a cold snap with the striking axe work and whipping percussion, but with a track such as ‘Wargod’ you are left trudging through the thick white layers of fog due to the menacing chugging and the vocalisations.

In spite of the album being rather compact at a running time of under 40 minutes it also feels bombastic and epic, mainly due to the nature of the drums. However, what I really get from this album is that Demonaz has finally taken the Immortal beast by the horns and become master of it; just check out the brilliant namesake track ‘Immortal’, the ferocious ‘No Sun’ or the heroic ‘Nordlandihr’. Everything you expect from an Immortal album is here – lightning speed, cold marches, gritty vocals and that snarling sense of evil authenticity that looms like a snow dusted mountain about to shed its load onto your skull.

Neil Arnold

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