Mass Burial: Immortal, Northern Chaos Gods

Following All Shall Fall in 2009, Immortal once more went on a hiatus, with Abbath releasing another solo album in 2015. Again embroiled in legal matters, the band name would end up with Demonaz, who along with steady drummer Horgh, released what is probably the most Black Metal Immortal album since Pure Holocaust.

MakeToys: Wrestle

 MakeToys has slowly but steadily become a real Coffin favorite company, thanks to fantastic figures like Contact Shot, Quantron, Despotron and others, and as a result have earned a place on the permanent shopping list around these parts. TFCon 2018 offered a chance at Wrestle, a Masterpiece Grapple-alike, and thus it was added to the collection. 

Star Wars: The Black Series Target Exclusive Ach-To Luke Skywalker (The Last Jedi)

 It sure feels like we’ve been paying a lot of attention to Star Wars figures the last few months: I have a pretty sizable backlog of Black Series figures to examine, and the list has been growing. It also feels like it’s getting close to time that we finally talk about The Last Jedi and Solo as movies, now that the climate of nuclear takes is in remission, aside from those die hards who are still infuriated by either or both. Those talks are coming, but for now, let’s get some exposure to another Black Series figure, the Target exclusive Episode VIII Luke Skywalker.

Mass Burial: Immortal, All Shall Fall

Following the hiatus which would result in both of the bands’ major figures solo albums, 2009’s All Shall Fall is the follow-up to Sons of Northern Darkness, and is an album that treads very, very much the same path. But, while Sons mimicked the best parts of its predecessor, Damned In Black, to marvelous results, All Shall Fall is a little too much of the same to competently stand on its own.

Ju-Jiang Jet Commander JJ-02A: Jet Concorde

 Preface: I’m super excited to talk about these figures.

This is going to be the first entry on a real exciting batch of figures, the oversized Combiner Wars Aerialbot KOs from Ju-Jiang, a (sorta) Third Party company that makes upsized knock off versions of official Hasbro Transformers. My overall knowledge of the company is very limited, but up for review here is Jet Concorde, the upsized version of Combiner Wars Voyager Silverbolt, Aerialbot commander and eventual Superion torso. But to call these KOs and leave it at that would do a massive disservice to the figures themselves, as they are so, so much more than KOs and, as we’ll see as we progress through the set, are in many facets greatly improved versions of their original inspirations.

Mass Burial: Immortal, The Seventh Date of Blashrykh

Ah, the live album. An opportunity to relive a concert, or to experience one vicariously. A chance to assemble a “greatest hits” type package including all of the intensity and spectacle of the live setting. Usually, live albums are very hit-or-miss, dependent on ones’ enthusiasm for a band and the selectin of songs being performed. Personally, I like live albums quite a bit, although my hunger for them ebbs and flows. The Seventh Date of Blashrykh should have been a hit, as it depicts Immortal playing a true selection of hits with an emphasis on tunes from Sons of Northern Darkness, which I would argue is the bands’ high water point. But man, I really hate this album.

Star Wars: The Black Series Skiff Guard Lando (Return of the Jedi)

 Completing (for now) the Lando Trilogy (for now. . . ), skiff guard Lando presents the great character in his temporary Return of the Jedi Jabba’s palace guard appearance. There’s a tiny bit of cross over potential for this figure, as the removable helmet fits on Tobias Beckett from the Solo sequence of figures, so it could be possible to kitbash an in-disguise Beckett from his movie, but we’ll touch on that later on, whenever we get around to Tobias Beckett.

Iron Factory: Tyrant’s Wings Amethyst

 A few weeks ago there was a huge reveal of future Iron Factory releases, and once again, they seemed to catch some part of my interest in a way that probably does need to be addressed. Sure, I’ve pondered changing collection gears to more of these Legends scaled figures, already owning a couple and honestly liking pretty much every one that I see. But we’ve talked about this before, you and I, and something about making such a huge (lol) shift in my collecting slightly frightens me; I don’t want to add another line, for lack of a better word here, to my shopping list, but I am growing more and more of an interest in these figures. This is certain to be a thing that will drag out for quite some time until it is finally resolved, and in the meantime, here’s Iron Factory’s Amethyst, a purple repaint of Clone, which is itself a repaint of their Starscream.

Mass Burial: I, Between Two Worlds

The real shame of Demonaz’ March of the Norse solo album is that it isn’t very memorable or strong aside from it being a Demonaz solo album. The real shame of Abbath’s first solo salvo is that I was a one-off project.

Between Two Worlds is not going to try to be an Immortal record, or even a Black Metal one, really. This is more of an open road driving kind of album, I guess more Black n’ Roll than anything, but it is a great and tragically underappreciated release.

Mass Burial: Demonaz, March of the Norse

Demonaz’ solo album is more Black Metal, or more Immortal, if you will, than Abbath’s of the same general time, but it is also more of a by-the-numbers affair. That shouldn’t be misread as a knock, only as a primer statement.

Mass Burial: Immortal, Sons of Northern Darkness

Chicago spent the last few days in the grips of the polar vortex, and what better time to take in some more of Immortal’s brand of frosty, frigid Black Metal? Why not make that an extra shot of what is probably Immortal’s most “Immortal” record, Sons of Northern Darkness?