Coffin Shaker: Abbath – Abbath

This is a feel good record. Abbath is, of course, former Immortal frontman Abbath, and here is his first solo album, entitled Abbath. It’s like a fragrance ad: Abbath, by Abbath. By Abbath, for Abbath. It’s not exactly Abbath’s first trek without the rest of Immortal, as there is the one-off project I, whose 2005 album Between Two Worlds is a great black ‘n roll affair that apparently few people actually know of, and, just like this record, included Gorgoroth bassist King ov Hell. I’d recommend it.

What’s happening on this album is much more in the vein of Immortal than I was. A legal dispute brought the end of Immortal, following years of inaction and no new music since 2009’s All Shall Fall. That was an Immortal album, and from what I understand, Abbath uses a number of things that would have ended up on a new Immortal album, which makes Abbath very much a record that sounds like Immortal. It has its faster parts, and its slower, doomier heavy parts. And for all of its’ old comfortable sameness, it is a fresh, fresh listen. 

Immortal was always a band that you knew what you’d get with. Rarely were there surprises to be had, as long ago Abbath and former member Daemonez established the overall sonic character and look of the band. Slight alterations came and went with the revolving roster, but the core idea was never changed. Maybe that’s why the only offering from Abbath’s I went largely unnoticed: it wasn’t the same thing as what Immortal was. And Immortal is a very distinct style. Even the 2011 album from former member Deamonez was basically the same thing as an Immortal album.

Over time, Immortal began including ideas that were more along the lines of second wave Bathory, the Blood-Fire-Death era of Bathory, and it was good. Slower compositions began appearing, perfect accompaniments to content that was often focused on ice or nature or battle. Slower, riffier songs lent themselves perfectly to the Immortal mythos, partly Viking and partly extreme temperatures. This has been something constant, as unyielding as an iceberg, across all Immortal-related projects, but Abbath also goes back to the faster, thrashier riffs of Immortal’s uptempo moments. 

And it works out terrifically. This IS an Immortal record, not something from the guy who used to be in Immortal, which is a fine description for I or Daemonez, where the Immortal tropes are present but are essentially callbacks to the primary band. No, Abbath is a full on Immortal record with a different name, similar to how King ov Hell released The Underworld Regime under the dopey moniker Ov Hell while Gorgoroth was entangled in legal chaos; that was 100% a Gorgoroth album in the same way that Abbath is just a different name on a familiar and beloved product. 

One thing that I want to do more with the Coffin in 2016 is get more music content going, and this album felt like the perfect place to start. Immortal was one of those bands that was consistently what they were, whether you found that a good or bad thing, and Abbath picks up right where they left off. I’d hope that, if this turns out to be more than a one-off, this continuation continues, as the world is a better place when some of the old bands are still doing their thing.

I’m sure that the content of this album is pretty clear at this point, and if Immortal floated your longship, then Abbath is 100% recommended to you.