Demonaz – March of The Norse

artist website

publisher

buy

Nuclear Blast
Produced by Ice Dale & Verbrand Larsen

As any fan of Immortal should already know, despite having to stop playing guitar for the legendary black metal act years ago due to tendinitis, Demonaz has continued to be active with the group as lyricist and manager. He was responsible for Immortal’s iconic lyrics about his fictional land Blashyrkh, helping to define Immortal as a very separate entity from the religion and occult obsessed black metal scene. For his solo project, Demonaz has recruited Enslaved guitarist Ice Dale and ex-Immortal drummer Armagedda, both of whom also joined Immortal guitarist/singer Abbath and ex-Gorgoroth bassist King Ov Hell for I – another project Demonaz wrote lyrics for.

Because of the presence of most of I, it feels inevitable to make comparisons between Demonaz and the short lived side project. Both groups might be rooted in black metal, but their music has a distinctiveness of its own. This shouldn’t be all that surprising given Immortal’s ongoing legacy. Whilst Immortal are huge within the black metal scene, their music itself has long since outgrown it, developing almost thrash like riffs and a much more clean and polished sound that separates it from the rest of black metal.

Just as I’s Between Two Worlds did before it, March of The Norse takes Immortal’s sound and develops it in a different direction. On both records, there seems to be a major influence at play – for I, it was Motörhead; for Demonaz, it is Bathory. Whilst these two bands might be the biggest individual influences on each project though, both feel more like homages than attempts to mimic their sounds. Rather, each project is a twisted half way point between influence and their own work with Immortal. Both records have distinct and different sounds, though comparisons are not all that difficult to make.

Even without all this in mind, March of The Norse stands up extremely well. The album, like those that Demonaz has worked on before with I and Immortal, is very clean and expertly produced. The album certainly has the heaviness of Immortal but with a much slower pace, giving the album a much more sombre feel to it. Whilst the focal point of Immortal is Abbath’s very fast riffing, the focal point here is more on Ice Dale’s slow leads over a more chuggy rhythm. Ice Dale’s solos are also of particular note, though fans of Enslaved perhaps shouldn’t find this surprising. There’s a good measure of acoustic guitar as well, giving the album a more Nordic feel when compared to the works of Immortal – appropriate given the change of lyrical content from fantastical to seemingly more historical matters. As a vocalist, Demonaz is also surprisingly good, delivering a very throaty but generally rather clear and emotive performance.

The Bathory influence clearly shows in the more atmospheric elements that the band utilize, most notably on interlude track Ode To Battle and introduction track Northern Hymn. However, beyond that the influence is a lot more subtle. Ignoring the band’s stated influences and their membership, this album could easily pass as slightly gloomy traditional metal. There are none of the trademark elements that make up a black metal record – no blastbeats, no shrieked vocals, the music generally has a fairly moderate pace, and as expected with Demonaz, the lyrical content is far removed from what the rest of the black metal scene wants to deal with. Ultimately Bathory feels more like an inspiration for mood than a direct musical influence – those expecting this record to really sound like the legendary group are going to be in for a big disappointment.

Where the album does let down is that, similar to many of Immortal’s records, it’s very short. Removing two of the album’s interlude tracks, the album offers only seven songs and has a total running time of 35 minutes. As a result, whilst the album is very good, it does leave the listener desperately wanting more. This is slightly forgiveable; after all, this is still only a side project at this stage for most of the group.

As with his other band, Demonaz might find himself directed towards the black metal market but this is an album with a much more universal metal appeal. Frankly it’s more likely to be rejected by the black metal elitists as being far too polished and not having the almost accidental artiness nor the backwards primitiveness that the genre sometimes seems to crave. Rather, this is an excellent, straight forward heavy metal record with some proto-black/viking metal influences. Immortal fans should certainly see this as a must have – whilst it certainly won’t top the band’s best efforts, it certainly sits well alongside them. Hopefully this should prove itself to be an ongoing project and not just a one-off.

“ very clean and expertly produced ”

Tracklist: Northern Hymn / All Blackened Sky / March of the Norse / A Son of the Sword / Where Gods Once Rode / Under the Great Fires / Over the Mountains / Ode to Battle / Legends of Fire and Ice

Photo(s): Peter Beste | www.peterbeste.com

Written by James Donovan
More: 2011, Albums, Black Metal, Demonaz