Immortal

On a brisk rainy Tuesday mid-afternoon I made my trek down to Brooklyn to the Masonic Temple to see the "Sons of Northern Darkness" Immortal make their triumphant return to the US. The Black Metal Norwegian cohorts brought the chill but left the snow back in Norway, the perfect conditions for a night of tales of Blashyrkh and the Winterrealm.

As I approached the ominous Masonic Temple it still struck me odd as to why the band decided to play this interesting venue and not in NYC. Later, given insight from fans and Immortal's manager (and photographer) Hakon as to why that venue and why such a short tour. I will not go into details but lets just say they actually made some money on merch that night. Later, myself and other VIP ticket holders were taken inside for a 30 minute Meet and Greet with Immortal. I will say this was worth the whole VIP experience as we got to all ask them questions and get to take individual photos with each band-member.

7:30 doors. Upon entering a pretty big theater with a decent size stage we saw the huge Immortal logo on the back drop. As more of the crowd filed in I was a little skeptical of how the attendance would be playing such a big hall. Not only were their regular tickets left but they were also a few VIPS last time I checked but I guess some didn't want to entertain paying the 100 or so dollars.

Having seen openers Black Anvil I think four previous times, and have gotten to know Paul, Dave, and Gary rather well. The fact they were opening brought a smile to my face and I could not think of a better local band to open for Immortal. With a similar sound while still staying original they play an interesting dose of Black Metal. Paul on vocals and bass always delivers 100 percent no matter who they are opening for. Gary on guitar and Dave on drums are completely spot on. I don't have the setlist for Black Anvil but I do know they played 2 new songs that blew both me and my friends away. They'll have a new album coming out in June and I cannot wait to hear more of their new compositions.

Before Immortal hit the stage, my fears of a weak Tuesday crowd vanished immediately after seeing an army of metalheads (around 1500 at least) brandishing corpsepaint waiting for the Battles of the North to commence. There would be no barricade this night as Immortal wanted a classic intimate show but the guards made a futile attempt at making the crowd step 3 feet away from the stage. I knew as soon as Immortal emerged we would be pushed forward and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Horgh pounded the drums for the intro of the title track of their latest album "All Shall Fall". Then the almighty Abbath hit the stage roaring with his guitar followed by the amazing Apollyon from Aura Noir on bass and ALL DID FALL..forward (that is) towards the stage. Abbath wore his vintage spiked arm battle armor and just looked like a giant among men. Second track off "All Shall Fall", ‘The Rise of Darkness’, followed by ‘Solarfall’ off "At the Heart of Winter" album. Next, everyone's favorite track about the band themselves, ‘Sons of Northern Darkness’, where everyone started crowd surfing (and I went pretty nuts myself). ‘Tyrants’ would then follow and then my personal favorite off the new record, ‘Hordes to War’. I absolutely went APESHIT to that one as the ending is just epic as fuck.

During ‘Norden on Fire’ Abbath decided to do some great posing for my camera (as seen in the photos) and ‘Grim and Frostbitten Kingdoms’ got dusted off which got all the old schoolers going crazy. Having seen Immortal last time 3 years ago at BB Kings I must say they were better this time around.

After four more songs (‘Pure Holocaust’ Medley, ‘Unearthly Kingdom’, ‘One by One’, and ‘Withstand the Fall of Time’) the band would leave the stage soon to return for their encores ‘Beyond the North Waves’, and the classics ‘Battles in the North’ and ‘Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark)’. Unfortunately, We would not see any songs from "Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism", "Blizzard Beasts", or "Damned in Black" but I don't think the crowd minded.

Immortal left pleased and satisfied and hopefully these cold blooded warriors come back very soon. Only being my second time seeing Immortal, and even though my ribs and stomach hurt like hell from being pushed against the stage all night long, I would do it again in a second!

Setlist:

All Shall Fall
The Rise Of Darkness
Solarfall
Sons Of Northern Darkness
Tyrants
Hordes To War
Norden On Fire
Grim And Frostbitten Kingdoms
Pure Holocaust
Unearthly Kingdom
One By One
Withstand The Fall Of Time
Beyond The North Waves
Battles In The North
Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark)