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Photo credit: Håkon Grav
“I have always been into the dark side of music, like early Black Sabbath. Then heavy metal music, thrash metal, underground black and death metal bands emerged. After singing and playing guitar in my first death/thrash metal band I wanted to start the ultimate band in 1990.
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I had the name IMMORTAL and a vision. I then met Abbath and we started from there. I never felt we were a part of any scene, even if we had close contact with other black metal bands from Norway. I listened to bands like CELTIC FROST, VENOM and BATHORY – they were the ones that inspired me to make dark and cold music. Our first vinyl release was a 7″ inch in 1991, and then our first IMMORTAL album Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism followed in 1992.
My very first inspiration to start IMMORTAL came from the environment I grew up in. The cold winter, the dark woods near my home, the great mountains and glaciers. I wanted something unique to bind the lyrics and music together so I created Blashyrkh, meaning “The realm of all darkness and cold”.
The harshness of nature is a never-ending inspiration. The mysterious force that surrounds us and slowly erases everything. It‘s a deep fascination and respect for nature built on instinct. I’m devoted to the early days of black metal. Late nights in the woods, embracing darkness, breathing fire, being obsessed by the moon and winter. It is what keeps my spirit alive. I walk the woods to the mountains every day. It has inspired me to write riffs, lyrics and music as long as I can remember.
Every riff, line, word and song of IMMORTAL through the years has been in my ears, and in my head from the deep forests and all the way to the frozen mountaintops.
Bands like POSSESSED, SLAYER and MANOWAR also influenced us back then, but the one and only Quorthon of BATHORY will forever be the true riff master and legend for me. The very first inevitable albums along with Under the Sign of the Black Mark and Blood Fire Death meant a lot to me in terms of inspiration back then and still does.
He also inspired me lyrically. In 1997 I got diagnosed with tendinitis in the left arm. I was unable to perform live, but never stopped playing or composing. I recovered from an arm operation in 2015 and it was a relief to finally enter the studio to record guitars again for the new IMMORTAL album as well as singing my own lyrics.
I would never compromise on my original vision of bringing fans through the frozen kingdom of Blashyrkh along with ultimate grim, cold, dark and timeless music – no matter the reason.”
Northern Chaos Gods, will be available as a digipak, 180g LP (limited edition various colours) in gatefold, a collector’s box set, strictly limited mailorder steel box or digitally via this link.
If you want to grab the last few copies of the 7” single ‘Northern Chaos Gods‘, be quick and get it here.
Album tracklisting:
1. Northern Chaos Gods
2. Into Battle Ride
3. Gates To Blashyrkh
4. Grim and Dark
5. Called To Ice
6. Where Mountains Rise
7. Blacker Of Worlds
8. Mighty Ravendark
Oran O’Beirne
www.overdrive.ie 2018
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