Immortal - At the Heart of Winter

In the dying days of Norwegian black metal, bands like Immortal and Dimmu Borgir seek to imitate it from the outside, by adopting its superficial techniques but not understanding its original inner spirit. With At the Heart of Winter, Immortal takes a break from aping Burzum, as on Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism, Bloodthirst Overdose, as on a Pure Holocaust that remains nonetheless a quality black metal release, and the bizarre Morbid Angel feat Verminlust mixture heard on Blizzard Beasts, to combines heavy metal and indie rock with black metal stylings and aesthetics to produce a demi-opus of distracted listening: if experienced with half a brain, as when watching the latest Netflix turd show or washing the dishes, it may appear relatively fine and hits the "right spots" off of the black metal checklist. When listened to intently on the other hand, as all good black metal should be, At the Heart of Winter reveals itself for what it is: a vapid combination of Motörhead and Iron Maiden tropes given the de facto Scandinavian extreme metal turnover, with relatively random structure and imitation of black metal clichés that go absolutely nowhere.

The surface influences on this work that immediately come to mind are bands like Graveland, Neraines and Peste Noire, for their mix of melodic heavy metal with epic black metal atmosphere, with a side dish of the more desolate and/or folkish Nords like early Enslaved and the aforementioned Burzum, but as an experienced listener of metal might guess, the closer one comes to pseudo-anthemic cock rock mallcore, the lower the quality of the music becomes.

On At the Heart of Winter, the typical Immortal song begins with either a monotonous acoustic intro or a stock standard black metal riff, which is then repeated in a verse-chorus cycle, ending in a chord progression reminiscent of bittersweet indie rock, neurotic in that it tries to be both warlike and whiny at the same time, very reminiscent of late Emperor's "black" metalcore, before dropping into heavy metal tropes that owe more to Motörhead and Queensrÿche than Bathory, like when the chaotic solo extends into an acoustic bridge, a synth lead rhythm or even a bouncy Pantera riff.

While the initial aspects of this album may appear favourable at a first glance: a certain instrumental prowess, an effort for atmospheric songwriting, deliberate production and a deep study of early black metal's greats (Varg, Euronymous, Quorthon), further scrutiny will reveal that At the Heart of Winter is fundamentally disunified and disorganised poser rock, first by lack of purpose except egotistic lamentation and imitation of the past, and second by a refusal to structure songs around anything but a clichéed perspective that hides itself by constant interruption and vagabondage between styles - a trait that would be "perfected" by future "blackened" whinecore bands such as Behemoth, Satyricon and Watain. What remains from At the Heart of Winter, after the listener filters through the gimmickry, the aesthetics and the randomness, could not fill the teacup of any serious extreme metal fan. It is no surprise that after this album Immortal were to go full on metalcore and abandon any pretence of playing black metal altogether.

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