Immortal It`s time to reveal the next result of the endless inspiration of the members of Immortal. It appears to me that they are not willing to give up their way of life. I thank them because this results in their next album called Sons Of Northern Darkness. I can imagine this is because of the fortunately still existing will of this black metal formation to keep us awake at night. For 11 years now they have established themselves as one of the great black metal bands of our time. The icy, frosty, fast, and catchy sound and the fantastic lyrics about an icy place called Blashyrk made them gain a lot of followers. A fine way to escape reality into the land where no men made of flesh roam. The album is recorded with Peter T?gtgren in the same famous Abyss studios where they also recorded the last two albums. You can hear this again on the latest album, it is very well produced. In spite of the complexity of the music it really blasts out the speakers as a whole. Sons Of Northern Darkness kicks off with a discharging squadron of drums and guitars over which Abbath screams in a pretty aggressive demon-like attempt to impress the mortals "One By One". Well, they certainly got my attention. The album continues rapidly with their characteristic sound of rapid lead guitar combined with a sensitive yet aggressive solo guitar. In between these cannon blasts the slower, subtler and sensitive style of Immortal seeks its way through your mind. These more accessible songs, like `Tyrants` (the 3rd song on the album), are nonetheless a result of the ability of the band to compose great songs.

And so the music continues. At a certain point during the album I tend to lose my attention, perhaps because I smoke too much or maybe I need a stronger tickle to snap out of my reality. Well yeah, what else is new. Anyway, it doesn`t take too long before my mind gets drawn to the next peak called `In My Kingdom Cold`. Wow, I can only say: check it out for yourselves. I think this song is a perfect combination between the two styles performed by these three artists. As if taken to another time and place I slide on to song seven out of eight. The melody gets smacked into my ears as the music makes my mind flow into `Antarctica` from where I`m thrown into the seas `Beyond The North Waves`. Good conclusion because now I`m really floating on these waves while being taken away to the big finale. Victory seems to have overcome the land and the frozen seas, not knowing who has won or who drowned. It took me some time to get used to the album. I`d say after three or four times I really got into the atmosphere of the album so don`t be misled the first time you hear the album, just give it time to work on your brain. Even though this album lasts over fifty minutes (the final song is over eight minutes long) I`m surprised this is the end so soon. To me that is not a bad sign and I`m certainly not ashamed of the fact that this album is a part of my collection. Even though I myself like the rawest versions of black metal better, it`s nice to taste development in any kind of music.