IMMORTAL - At The Heart Of Winter CD

There are so many excellent riffs on this album that the bass being quite hard to hear doesn't even matter. It's there, for sure, boosting the power of the guitar work, but seldom does it shine past the flurry of guitars and the blast beat drumming. The drumming is fantastic on this album, almost bordering on rock-inspired for a moment here and there, as does the sliding guitar that Abbath employs every so often. But the combination of every devious trick culminates to a sum greater than its parts. The word wintry doesn't describe it well enough, an interesting juxtaposition to the demonic vocals. But alas, that's always where Immortal exceeds, isn't it? Their music, on this album especially, is like being lost in a tundra with only the devil to guide you. This is truly the pinnacle of black metal, and it hasn't been approached since.