Icy Blasts (of the North)

I haven't listened to this album in probably ten years. I don't know why I put it to one side so long as it's killer!

Immortal are one of the longer running bands in the Norwegian scene, managing to avoid the notoriety that haunted some other bands for their members' abominable acts. They also appreciated how ridiculous the entire scene is, embracing the over-the-top theatrics and body paint without taking it serious. They had a website in the early noughties that was like any random small business design only in frostbitten icy blue and black. They knew what they were doing. 

Musically there are a few eras of our frozen friends. The first is before Demonaz got tendinitis and had to stop shredding at 1,000 bpm. The second era is when Abbath was the guitar guy, and finally the third era is after Abbath was expelled. 

At The Heart Of Winter is the first of the second era and it was something of a style change, with the first era's grim and frostbitten style replaced with longer tunes with a pronounced Teutonic thrash influence. This really shines as the tracks are interesting to listen to and not just a delivery system for buzz saw guitars. Every tune has several riff ideas stacked together and there are even some melodic interludes that are light and airy. What a great listen. 

Stand outs: title track, Solarfall