Immortal frontman/guitarist departs from venerable Norwegian group (yet again), for his first true solo outing ( his band I, notwithstanding), so guess what it sounds like? Although the other two participants have already ditched poor Abbath, they've offered eight caustic slices of black metal (two bonus tracks on deluxe edition), rawer than output the grease-painted one's had his finger in, lately. All the hallmarks of the classic Immortal sound are there: the belching voice, wild guitars and sneaky, infectious rhythms. After a purposefully grim introductory 'To War', a more diversified (read melodic streaks, concluding jangly guitar and brief spoken voiceover) 'Winter Bane' would slot nicely amongst the I material, or even At The Heart Of Winter. Notice a theme?

'Ashes Of The Damned' ends with unexpected trumpet fanfare, but otherwise, heads down black metal meanness. A hypnotic drone envelops 'Ocean Of Wounds', majestic wave upon wave, whereas 'Count The Dead' jackhammers its point home, repeatedly. 'Fenir Hunts' rides a chugging, locomotive riff, apart from the guitar break slicing through it. Beginning with a restrained pace, 'Root Of The Mountain' recalls “Another Perfect Day” era Motorhead. Midway through its 5:40 length, the subtlety is broken, albeit not a full-bore frenzy, before rescinding to the earlier crawl and ending abruptly. The concluding 'Eternal' might better be entitled Infernal, such is the racket, ultimately fading out!