HELL-O and welcome back to the most electrifying blog in Corpse Entertainment.
It's totally brutal, and also fitting, that this blog's first album review features the grim and frostbitten innovator of northern darkness, the Immortal, black metal rock star known as ABBATH. Season of Mist is already streaming the full album ahead of its Friday July 5 release, so I implore you to listen for yourself. This album slays, hard.
I had the twisted pleasure of interviewing Abbath back in 2016, although he quickly stole the spotlight with his zany sense of humor and irreverent asides. And yet, he still spoke with a certain air of, well, grimness.
"I'm older than Elvis was now when he passed," he lamented. "Suddenly, boom! One day, you look at yourself in the mirror or you feel it and...Wow. I'm old."
But fear not, oh corpse painted one! Abbath is one of those things that improves with age. Outstrider is his strongest albums since Sons of Northern Darkness, which remains my personal gold standard for Immortal albums.
Fans of old school Immortal should also rejoice. Outstrider possesses the same feral barrage of blast beats and spastic riffs that made albums like Pure Holocaust and Battles In The North KVLT classics through the eyes of many extreme metal aficionados. It's a savage affair, and an incredibly fun listening experience for its nearly 40-minute run time.
The opening track "Calm In Ire Of Hurricane" fades in with a folky guitar yarn, invoking images of the sun rising (or, the sun no longer rising) over an icy Scandenavian landscape of mountains and rivers. The distorted guitars and rhythm sections arrive with thunderous effect, as Abbath unleashes a dazzling guitar solo within the first minute. Then a guitar riff with a nasty upbend that sounds like the musical equivalent of a swirling tempest, and a swarm of blast beats that kick off this album with a frenetic bang!
Love em or hate em, but Abbath's love of big arena rock bands like Kiss and ManOWar is well documented. His worship of Vinnie Vincent (or "Winnie WIncent" as he says) pays off big time in this album's guitar work, especially the solos. Many times throughout the listening of Outstrider, I could imagine Abbath making his goofy "ooh" and "aah" faces during the leads, sticking out his tongue and so on as his fingers dance across the fretboard of his flying V.
"Bridge of Spasms" is another ripper. It reminded me of Sodom circa Tapping the Vein or Code Red era, in the best and most brutal way. It also contains some of the only clean vocals of the album, as Abbath yawns out a bellowing "OHHHH" that sounds Ned from South Park meditating on how to summon a Frostdaemon from the cursed realms.
"Scythewinder" is personal favorite of the album, and it will certainly become a mosh pit classic. It's a rollicking, mid-paced shuffle step with hearty servings of double bass drums to brisk tempo. "Don't let go," croaks Abbath several times throughout the song. Sure enough, the composition made me feel like I was riding the Cyclone roller coaster in Coney Island in the middle of a blizzard. Mission accomplished!
Abbath has once again produced an immensely energetic and enjoyable album, one that channels his grim and frostbitten heritage in Immortal, with soaring arena rock melodies and devilishly infectious hooks. The dude is a hell of a guitar player and frontman, and expertly balances the line between paragon and parody, grimness and goofball.
In terms of it's production, I'm happy to report that nothing is muddled and nothing sounds too polished either. My one criticism of Sons Of Northern Darkness is that it sounds a hair overproduced for his harsh source material, but that is remedied in the sound quality of Outstrider. The bass tone, provided by Mia Wallace, cuts through the mix with an ever present bounce and crunchy distortion - the perfect low end accompaniment to Abbath's shrieks and inverted power chords. And vocally, of course, Abbath still sounds like a bullfrog who drank too much egg nog, with a few new shrieks and growls thrown in for extra grim measure.
If this album doesn't put a grin on your face, you are probably a massive poser and should leave the hall.
8/10
Abbath Outstrider is available via Season of Mist on July 5.
It's totally brutal, and also fitting, that this blog's first album review features the grim and frostbitten innovator of northern darkness, the Immortal, black metal rock star known as ABBATH. Season of Mist is already streaming the full album ahead of its Friday July 5 release, so I implore you to listen for yourself. This album slays, hard.
I had the twisted pleasure of interviewing Abbath back in 2016, although he quickly stole the spotlight with his zany sense of humor and irreverent asides. And yet, he still spoke with a certain air of, well, grimness.
"I'm older than Elvis was now when he passed," he lamented. "Suddenly, boom! One day, you look at yourself in the mirror or you feel it and...Wow. I'm old."
But fear not, oh corpse painted one! Abbath is one of those things that improves with age. Outstrider is his strongest albums since Sons of Northern Darkness, which remains my personal gold standard for Immortal albums.
Fans of old school Immortal should also rejoice. Outstrider possesses the same feral barrage of blast beats and spastic riffs that made albums like Pure Holocaust and Battles In The North KVLT classics through the eyes of many extreme metal aficionados. It's a savage affair, and an incredibly fun listening experience for its nearly 40-minute run time.
The opening track "Calm In Ire Of Hurricane" fades in with a folky guitar yarn, invoking images of the sun rising (or, the sun no longer rising) over an icy Scandenavian landscape of mountains and rivers. The distorted guitars and rhythm sections arrive with thunderous effect, as Abbath unleashes a dazzling guitar solo within the first minute. Then a guitar riff with a nasty upbend that sounds like the musical equivalent of a swirling tempest, and a swarm of blast beats that kick off this album with a frenetic bang!
Love em or hate em, but Abbath's love of big arena rock bands like Kiss and ManOWar is well documented. His worship of Vinnie Vincent (or "Winnie WIncent" as he says) pays off big time in this album's guitar work, especially the solos. Many times throughout the listening of Outstrider, I could imagine Abbath making his goofy "ooh" and "aah" faces during the leads, sticking out his tongue and so on as his fingers dance across the fretboard of his flying V.
"Bridge of Spasms" is another ripper. It reminded me of Sodom circa Tapping the Vein or Code Red era, in the best and most brutal way. It also contains some of the only clean vocals of the album, as Abbath yawns out a bellowing "OHHHH" that sounds Ned from South Park meditating on how to summon a Frostdaemon from the cursed realms.
"Scythewinder" is personal favorite of the album, and it will certainly become a mosh pit classic. It's a rollicking, mid-paced shuffle step with hearty servings of double bass drums to brisk tempo. "Don't let go," croaks Abbath several times throughout the song. Sure enough, the composition made me feel like I was riding the Cyclone roller coaster in Coney Island in the middle of a blizzard. Mission accomplished!
Abbath has once again produced an immensely energetic and enjoyable album, one that channels his grim and frostbitten heritage in Immortal, with soaring arena rock melodies and devilishly infectious hooks. The dude is a hell of a guitar player and frontman, and expertly balances the line between paragon and parody, grimness and goofball.
In terms of it's production, I'm happy to report that nothing is muddled and nothing sounds too polished either. My one criticism of Sons Of Northern Darkness is that it sounds a hair overproduced for his harsh source material, but that is remedied in the sound quality of Outstrider. The bass tone, provided by Mia Wallace, cuts through the mix with an ever present bounce and crunchy distortion - the perfect low end accompaniment to Abbath's shrieks and inverted power chords. And vocally, of course, Abbath still sounds like a bullfrog who drank too much egg nog, with a few new shrieks and growls thrown in for extra grim measure.
If this album doesn't put a grin on your face, you are probably a massive poser and should leave the hall.
8/10
Abbath Outstrider is available via Season of Mist on July 5.
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