Review: 'All Shall Fall' is nothing new for Immortal

Immortal - All Shall Fall

It's not very gratifying to say that Immortal has put out yet another mediocre album. In the early days of the Norwegian black metal explosion, they stood out with a dark and forbidding voice that belonged to them alone. Albums like Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism, Pure Holocaust, and Battles in the North were black diamonds that could not be recreated by anyone, not even the band themselves. The fix was in when founding guitarist Demonaz retired and left bassist/vocalist Abbath to take up the six-string and carry on the name. This marked a dramatic shift in Immortal's sound and presentation; gone were the buzzsaw guitars and bone-machine drums, and gone were the twisted, broken riffs that sounded like the master tapes had been thrown into a thresher. Immortal had sold out, but 1999's At the Heart of Winter was still a good album despite its friendly production and simplified songs.

Fast-forward to the present – the group made two more albums and called it a day in 2003. These releases continued to be safer and more accessible than their early work, and accordingly they were exponentially more popular. They made a big deal out of dissolving the band, and then made an even bigger deal out of reforming it just three years later. All Shall Fall is the first album since Immortal initially quit, and it sounds exactly like what latter-day fans have come to expect. The production values are still warm and nonthreatening, the drums click like a typewriter set to a metronome, and the guitar tone could belong to any polished high-budget metal act that sells mainly in malls.

Production values are a matter of taste, but the real problem is that musically, All Shall Fall doesn't sound even a note different than the last three Immortal releases. Since At the Heart of Winter, they have been visibly standing on convention and didn't bother to come up with any new tricks during the hiatus. This album is loaded with formulaic passages that unabashedly cannibalize the back catalog and create a sense that this is more of a commercial product than an artistic endeavor. Abbath is actually in very good voice, at least when he doesn't delve into feigned singing, but it's not enough to vindicate the effort as a whole. The endless use of flamenco-style guitar strumming was a already a dry well as of 2000's Damned in Black, but he still hangs onto it like a security blanket. What's worse is that the few somewhat exciting moments like “Hordes to War” are basically rehashed and overproduced Bathory songs. Immortal was always influenced by Bathory, but laying it bare this late in their career seems uninspired.

The band's success is a double-edged sword because they deserved it for their best work, but were then rewarded for the fluff. It's likely that none of the above assessments will deter current fans from buying All Shall Fall; Immortal is smart enough to know that they've successfully courted an audience that wants the same product over and over with only superficial variations. Good production and readily digestible songs are hard to condemn in larger circles, so this album will probably sell well and the criticism of detractors will be drowned out by the enthusiastic cries of drunken European festival attendees and weekend headbangers. The rest of us will just have to turn away and hit 'play' on Pure Holocaust one more time.

For more info: All Shall Fall is available now through Nuclear Blast Records. For more metal album reviews, click here.