Abbath

[fjm]

Recently I have been listening to quite alot of Abbath, I and Immortal. I think all 3 bands are amazing, however I think Abbath should have stuck with Immortal. 

What are your guys thoughts on Abbath or Immortal?

[Requiem]

Cool topic. 

I think in general I agree with you, although I thought that 'All Shall Fall' - Abbath's last album with them - was quite a weak album. I bought it of course, as a dutiful lemming, and played it quite a lot but I just didn't find anything to really get excited about. Actually I guess it's time to give it another run, perhaps in my car or something, to see if I can find any redeeming features. 

So on that note, I think it's probably ok that he left. But I really haven't got into Abbath or I either. I'm not big on that black n roll sound that seems to be all the rage these days. 

'Sons of Northern Darkness' was Immortal's last classic. Would have been a great way to end their legacy. I'm barely aware of the current machinations of this troupe of grim and frostbitten malcontents. 

[Innominate]

Love Immortal, I've listened to I and Abbath's album had some good stuff on it. I liked that Armagedda was on I's Between Two Worlds--I really liked his drumming on Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism.

Also, if you skip to the 3:08 point of this video, you can hear Abbath sing the Popeye theme song  

[MacabreEternal]

10 hours ago, Requiem said:

Actually I guess it's time to give it another run, perhaps in my car or something, to see if I can find any redeeming features. 

Best of luck with that.

[fjm]

14 hours ago, Requiem said:

I thought that 'All Shall Fall' - Abbath's last album with them - was quite a weak album.

I 100% agree. Considering the 1st song "All shall fall" is a glorified re-recording of I-Battalions. The rest of the songs seem weak commpared to Immortal's previous works.

 

 

[Requiem]

Is that King ov Hell and good old Ice Dale in I? They're good lads, although 'hail Infernus' Kingy boy! 

[MacabreEternal]

From what I heard of the Abbath album I was uninspired to say the least.  It was a massive let down, not helped in the least by all the hype surrounding it.  That Priest cover was fucking appalling too.  There's something to be said about quitting whilst your ahead in this instance as the more I see Abbath the more I just see him as a parody act, which considering some of the excellent albums he was involved with in Immortal is a shame.

[BlutAusNerd]

Yeah, All Shall Fall was pretty flaccid. Weird, considering Apollyon's pedigree, I thought it would at least have some teeth. I like I, largely due to that signature Ice Dale guitar work, but I haven't been impressed by the Abbath stuff I've heard. It's not like Immortal is flawless either, Blizzard Beasts is awkward as shit with the sloppy and out of place tech-death riffs, and the lack of dynamic shifts and abysmal drumming can make Battles In the North taxing to listen to as well. Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism is good, but largely forgettable, as is Damned In Black, so that really only leaves 3 Immortal albums that I regularly reach for.

 

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[Requiem]

On 11/04/2017 at 11:15 AM, BlutAusNerd said:

Yeah, All Shall Fall was pretty flaccid. Weird, considering Apollyon's pedigree, I thought it would at least have some teeth. I like I, largely due to that signature Ice Dale guitar work, but I haven't been impressed by the Abbath stuff I've heard. It's not like Immortal is flawless either, Blizzard Beasts is awkward as shit with the sloppy and out of place tech-death riffs, and the lack of dynamic shifts and abysmal drumming can make Battles In the North taxing to listen to as well. Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism is good, but largely forgettable, as is Damned In Black, so that really only leaves 3 Immortal albums that I regularly reach for.

 

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I hear you on this. Immortal are for me the lesser of the top tier of Norwegian BM. Their massive popularity somewhat surprises me.

At their best they are great, but even their best albums don't touch the best of Emperor, Darkthrone, Satyricon, Mayhem etc. Actually, 'At the Heart of Winter' does, but overall I don't get their festival headlining status.

[BlutAusNerd]

On 11/04/2017 at 11:15 AM, BlutAusNerd said: Yeah, All Shall Fall was pretty flaccid. Weird, considering Apollyon's pedigree, I thought it would at least have some teeth. I like I, largely due to that signature Ice Dale guitar work, but I haven't been impressed by the Abbath stuff I've heard. It's not like Immortal is flawless either, Blizzard Beasts is awkward as shit with the sloppy and out of place tech-death riffs, and the lack of dynamic shifts and abysmal drumming can make Battles In the North taxing to listen to as well. Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism is good, but largely forgettable, as is Damned In Black, so that really only leaves 3 Immortal albums that I regularly reach for.

 

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I hear you on this. Immortal are for me the lesser of the top tier of Norwegian BM. Their massive popularity somewhat surprises me.

At their best they are great, but even their best albums don't touch the best of Emperor, Darkthrone, Satyricon, Mayhem etc. Actually, 'At the Heart of Winter' does, but overall I don't get their festival headlining status.

 

At the Heart of Winter can contend with the best from those bands begat it is spectacular, but most of their other releases can't. They weren't very consistent, and I think their status was brought about by their ridiculous music videos creating the Nordic black metal stereotype that everyone associates with the genre.

 

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[Amebix]

I prefer Immortal, but from a capitalistic standpoint I actually think making an Abbath album was a good idea, for the simple fact that Abbath himself is one of the most charismatic, instantly likable people in metal. It may not be nearly as good as Immortal, but it's something people are interested in hearing for the simple fact that they're interested in, and like Abbath as a figure. 

[MacabreEternal]

19 hours ago, Amebix said:

I prefer Immortal, but from a capitalistic standpoint I actually think making an Abbath album was a good idea, for the simple fact that Abbath himself is one of the most charismatic, instantly likable people in metal. It may not be nearly as good as Immortal, but it's something people are interested in hearing for the simple fact that they're interested in, and like Abbath as a figure. 

I appreciate it's your opinion but I completely disagree with this.  All the charisma in the world won't help you make even a half decent record if you're just doing because people like you as a person.  I would understand it more if we were saying because of what he has been involved in over the years people are interested in his solo project, that his musical merits carry enough reputation to peak interest in his new venture.

[Amebix]

53 minutes ago, MacabreEternal said:

I appreciate it's your opinion but I completely disagree with this.  All the charisma in the world won't help you make even a half decent record if you're just doing because people like you as a person.  I would understand it more if we were saying because of what he has been involved in over the years people are interested in his solo project, that his musical merits carry enough reputation to peak interest in his new venture.

His past work contributes to the interest in his work too, but doing a project called Abbath at least appears to be a vanity project, and I think a vanity project can be a hard sell if people aren't interested in the person behind it. It's obviously less than ideal for people to follow something for such a superficial reason, but it stands to reason that the more interested people are in an artist, the more likely they are to follow what they do. The most obvious comparison might be the KISS solo albums - the cartoonish imagery of KISS is obviously made to appeal to a younger audience, but when I was 12 I thought Ace Frehley was pretty cool, so naturally his solo album is the one I checked out.

[Requiem]

Abbath is just a clown, isn't he. He's not even trying to be serious anymore. Look at that 'Abbath Road' picture. 

[salmonellapancake]

I love Abbath. I'm not talking about the band, I'm talking about the man.

[MetalheadFromBama]

I haven’t listened to Abbath much, but I do recall reading an article about Abbath in one of my Guitar World magazines a few years back. I checked out one or two of their songs, and thought it was alright (considering the fact that I had never really listened to Black Metal until this year). I need to re-read that article, listen to them again soon, and see what I think about them now that I am getting used to the raw sound of black metal.

[Benjaminc81]

Just saw this week that Abbath had a complete meltdown during his South American tour. Really sad to see how alcoholism is slowly destroying this talented man. I really hope he get´s the help he needs for his alcoholism and returns to the stage soon. Was hoping to catch him January together with 1349 and Vltimas on tour. But now i wonder if he´s gonna make it in the light of his recent problems.

But aside from his personal issues i really have enjoyed his solo output so far. The I record he put out in 2006 was really an excellent metal album, even if it wasn´t black metal. His first solo record showed sounded somwhat uneven but overall i enjoyed it and it stuck pretty close to the Immortal formula of previous releases. His most recent record really shines though, i love the return to a more primitive black metal sound and there are some great melodies on that records. I´ve really come to appreciate his recent output and hope he can keep this level of quality up. I urge everyone to give "Outstrider" a good listen cause you are really missing out if you haven´t heard it yet.

[Balor]

4 hours ago, Benjaminc81 said:

Just saw this week that Abbath had a complete meltdown during his South American tour. Really sad to see how alcoholism is slowly destroying this talented man. I really hope he get´s the help he needs for his alcoholism and returns to the stage soon. Was hoping to catch him January together with 1349 and Vltimas on tour. But now i wonder if he´s gonna make it in the light of his recent problems.

But aside from his personal issues i really have enjoyed his solo output so far. The I record he put out in 2006 was really an excellent metal album, even if it wasn´t black metal. His first solo record showed sounded somwhat uneven but overall i enjoyed it and it stuck pretty close to the Immortal formula of previous releases. His most recent record really shines though, i love the return to a more primitive black metal sound and there are some great melodies on that records. I´ve really come to appreciate his recent output and hope he can keep this level of quality up. I urge everyone to give "Outstrider" a good listen cause you are really missing out if you haven´t heard it yet.

I never really cared much for Abbath or Immortal, but his new solo album was pretty good.  There were some nice solos throughout, and some catchy riffs too.  Reminded me a lot of the first wave bm that I have heard (in a good way).

[Requiem]

On 11/17/2019 at 11:32 PM, Benjaminc81 said:

Just saw this week that Abbath had a complete meltdown during his South American tour. Really sad to see how alcoholism is slowly destroying this talented man. I really hope he get´s the help he needs for his alcoholism and returns to the stage soon. Was hoping to catch him January together with 1349 and Vltimas on tour. But now i wonder if he´s gonna make it in the light of his recent problems.

But aside from his personal issues i really have enjoyed his solo output so far. The I record he put out in 2006 was really an excellent metal album, even if it wasn´t black metal. His first solo record showed sounded somwhat uneven but overall i enjoyed it and it stuck pretty close to the Immortal formula of previous releases. His most recent record really shines though, i love the return to a more primitive black metal sound and there are some great melodies on that records. I´ve really come to appreciate his recent output and hope he can keep this level of quality up. I urge everyone to give "Outstrider" a good listen cause you are really missing out if you haven´t heard it yet.

Yeah, I saw this in the 'news' and the footage and watched it from several angles. What a world we live in.... The internet spares no one. 

I haven't heard 'Outstrider' apart from maybe the first track, just out of sheer disinterest in what I've found to be a fairly unexciting output. Considering the praise it's getting, maybe I should check it out after all. 

[Benjaminc81]

Give it another spin, it was a grower for me as well. At first i felt somewhat disappointed by this follow up because of it´s straight forward approach. But now i´m discovering more and more gems on that album.