Artist: Immortal
Released: 2002 RATING:4/5
The Good: A true combination of old-school and new-school sensibilities, Sons of Northern Darkness is an overwhelmingly strong offering of uncompromising Black Metal. Each of the band members plays their instrument at an incredibly high level, and Abbath's vocals are menacing and distinctly black metal-esque. His guitar parts are technical and shred quite hard in spots, but also keep tight to the black metal tradition of keeping the emphasis on the atmosphere of each song as a whole. The reduction of white noise in the background and good production (such ommisions being atypical for black metal in general) also helps emphasize these traits, and the band's sense of melody is staggering considering the genre's reputation as simply "noisy". I've read a few articles commenting on how Vektor's playing style betrays a black metal-influenced approach to melody, which I totally didn't hear at all...until I listened to this album. There are great high-speed tracks, as well as slower tracks that will just steamroll the listener with their heaviness. The whole album is full of great moments, and is highly recommended for fans of extreme metal, but, of course, particularly black metal.
The Bad: Sometimes, the songs can really drag on without a lot of variety, but these instances are few and far between.
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