On July 6th 2018, Norwegian black metal legends Immortal will unleash their first studio album since All Shall Fall, released almost nine years ago. The legendary band has forged “Northern Chaos Gods”, an album which takes Immortal back to its roots. The album features eight new tracks consisting of 45 minutes of merciless speed and icy darkness, all massive songs in the true Immortal way. After the long-awaited release of the Norwegian black metal giants first studio album since parting with founding vocalist, Abbath, back in 2015, I spoke with guitarist and founding member, Demonaz, about the new album and what it means for the future of the band.
Xavier: This is the first release for Immortal in almost 9 years after the album “All Shall Fall”, and the first without founding vocalist, Abbath. Were you nervous about releasing the first single with all the scepticism from fans on whether or not the new line up would live up to the “Immortal” name?
Demonaz: Not really, I was fairly confident from the beginning because finally in 2015, when we split apart, it was like when he left the band we could finally focus on the music again you know. I think that was the best thing to happen in many many years because it’s music, it’s all about problems and internal disagreements. I’m thinking just to continue what you started and focus on the new album and the first song I made was “Northern Chaos Gods”, which was the opening track and I had a plan in my head, it always happens when you make an album, the plan was just to take back the power of Immortal in a way, some of it was lost on the way I think. It’s a bit challenging for a band playing for twenty-five years and trying to maintain the same spirit so, I thought it was an opportunity to just get back to the roots and to feel the same intensity and hunger and make a serious album like we did in ’93, ’94, ’96 you know. So, that was the plan in the back of my head but when you start to write an album the plan will never end like that, you know. When you work on the structure of the songs and you make three or four songs, you need to get a different opinion about it and you will see what’s missing. But really, I was confident, not nervous.
Xavier: With the new album you are really taking it back to the roots of Immortal, and you’re still delivering that cold, dark black metal sound that we love you for. As soon as the single was released I wanted to listen to it immediately, not knowing what I would encounter, whether it would be still the same Immortal that we love or whether the music would have changed with the line-up, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the music was still just as great, if not better than it’s ever been. So, what are your thoughts on the new album?
Demonaz: Well I think that’s a really great compliment, thank you. When we started with the writing of new songs you just block out the world and try to make your best and try to follow the gut feeling. I will always like that grim and dark atmosphere, that was something I created from the start and I really just try to get into it and you just have to follow your gut feeling and your inspiration and of course try to maintain the same feeling that you get from that. We care about the fans of course, it’s a part of being in a band and composing so you always think of them in a way, but it’s like you can’t be in everybody’s head so you have to trust yourself and your own confidence, so to me it’s like trying to make better albums then the one before, trying to maintain the same instruments like guitar, bass, drums and vocals you know, because we were never like a progressive band I think and I admit I was open to it with it going in that direction and a lot of the bands today and the old black metal bands, they took different directions with their music or experimented with orchestras or female vocals or modern things you know so, I believe in what we did from the beginning and that is what I’m trying to prove that we haven’t given up and we still can do this special form of swing [laughs].
Xavier: Yeah absolutely, I was listening to the album all day yesterday and I was really glad that it still sounded just as good you know, it was still there. The new music sounds like a lot of effort has been put into it, the band seems like it’s more focused then it was before, do you think Immortal is better now than it ever was?
Demonaz: Uh that’s a really difficult question because I think we have been better in some ways and some not you know, it’s like the freedom to make everything on our own terms in a way, it has always been important to this band not to follow anybody’s routines or deadlines, just do the music first in a way because the music is all about for me. I just really think that we are hungry, more hungry than before and the first thing, which is the most import thing for a band is to have internal success and to have a great time with it, and now we have a great time with it and we had a great time with it making this album and I think that reflects on the album, it can shine through on the album if the band is in a good state or a bad state. So, for me yeah, I think Immortal is better than in many years, yes. I think that’s the conclusion. At least we sound better on this album [laughs].
Xavier: Was it a hard decision to continue as Immortal without Abbath?
Demonaz: No, not really because in the end he decided to leave so, he left us with no options you know, it was like we had this band down before and it was no good for anybody, it was no good for the fans, it was definitely not good for me personally and it was no good for all of us. So, I don’t see any other options. What should it be? No Immortal? I can’t really see that, it’s like, I think that would be the worst situation for the fans involved. Also, in 2003 when the band was down for the first time I thought it was really bad, I was like, it didn’t feel right, and I had so much more, in fact we had so much more to prove so, it’s the same this time, it would be wrong, and I hope the fans will see that. We will never give up on this band and I hope they will never give up on us, maybe some people but that’s alright.
Xavier: Well I mean, considering Abbath was one of the founding members with you, and the entire history of Immortal it’s always been a lot of light on Abbath, and now that he’s left and you’ve continued on, a lot of fans were unsure on whether Immortal was just gonna fall apart or you were gonna continue and I think it was a good decision to continue because the new music is great I think fans will love it.
Demonaz: Well I really hope they stick with us because my intention was to make an album that would hopefully take their hats off [laughs], there’s a lot you can do. It’s your own people in the band, try to maintain better than before if that’s possible and of course it’s been a lot of work to do this album and from the outside perspective maybe a lot of fans think this is the first thing we’ve done in nine years, but really since “All Shall Fall” I did a solo album which was an offspring of Immortal on the side of “All Shall Fall” which was the Demonaz album “March of the Norse”, we also made an album together with Abbath which he separated which was really made for the next Immortal album, and I also made a new Demonaz album that I haven’t had the time to record, so I guess you could say we’ve been working with four albums.
Xavier: What does this album mean for the future of the band?
Demonaz: Well first of all I think it’s like necessary of course to continue with the band and it is also the beginning of a new era I think for the band in a way because Abbath left you know, and we stayed to keep the Immortal spirit. The next step for us now after all the promotion and everything which has taken lots more time then we were prepared for so, we will go back to rehearsal after this album now and prepare for the live situation and so yeah, we need to have an album out, that’s what it’s all about right. So, it’s important for us, really.
Xavier: It’s like a revived, new chapter of Immortal. It seems like you’ve gotten everything back to how it should be, I think you will probably do better now than you ever have. I wanna thank you for taking the time out to speak with me today and I wish you luck with the album release.
Demonaz: Thank you very much.
