The sidelined Immortal guitarist issues his own album, even though he’s still a creative force/overseer with ex-bandmates Abbath and Horgh. Here, he’s joined by Enslaved guitarist Ice Dale (here, unlike the I project, minus Abbath), also handling bass, plus original Immortal drummer, Armagedda. I repeat, Abbath is (somewhat surprisingly) not involved with Demonaz, the band, in any way shape or form! Uncanny vocal resemblance though. Must be all those cigarettes, liquor and smoke-filled Bergen club dates.

Dynamics is the name of the game here, from the opening (and recurrent) acoustic guitar ‘Northern Hymn’ to spoken word passages, "At The Heart Of Winter" and the I debut are easy reference points, albeit more grandiose/epic and less rollicking than the latter. "Hammerheart"-era Bathory is also a calling card, for those that are cognizant of such comparisons. Plenty of fire, mountains and ice in the lyrical mix too. While there are ten titles, two are less than 60 seconds intros and the closing, somewhat AC/DC inspired odd-ball ‘Dying Sun’ was originally penned in ’98. ‘All Blackened Sky’ is a riff-tastic pseudo-Immortal tune, built around some tasteful guitar and guttural Demonaz throat. The title cut kicks the speed up a notch, bam, but sticking to the tried and true winning formula. Can almost envision the “whoa, whoa” chorus sing-along in clean guitar sounding ‘A Son Of The Sword’.

As if the cosmic gods heed my call, there’s the ‘Where Gods Once Rode’ follow-up, with precisely such triumphant backing voices. Overall, Ice Dale’s ax is less distorted than on Demonaz’s compositions outside this solo effort. ‘Under The Great Fires’ employs that stop/start, subtle-aggro variation for which Immortal is, eh, immortalized, ending with just a lone acoustic. A gritty riff jumps in, as the last acoustic strain leaves, introducing a rather upbeat ‘Over The Mountains’. However the most regal number is ‘Legends Of Fire And Ice’! Only complaint is could have done with another full track, as it clocks in just 3 seconds over 40 minutes. Maybe next time!