Demonaz : March of the Norse
by Trevor Portz
Staff Writer
While his duties as guitarist for Immortal may be behind him, Demonaz Doom Occulta has far from left the scene that his band helped define. In addition to remaining the lone lyricist for the masters of Blashyrkh, he has also managed to churn out his first solo album, the epically titled March of the Norse. It may not pack the speed and intensity of Battles in the North or Sons of Northern Darkness, but March of the Norse nevertheless stands as an excellent piece of black metal art.
Feeling very much like a sister record to Abbath’s I project from a few years back, Demonaz focuses more on majestic, grinding riffs and driving rhythms than blast beats and death shredding. With vocals also similar to Abbath’s delivery, it is clear that, if anything, the Occulta brothers share a common metal vision. By looking perhaps too deeply, it could even be deduced that March of the Norse and Immortal represent the two worlds that I’s Between Two Worlds is named for. Musically speaking, it’s not a difficult assumption to make.
While Demonaz’ songwriting and vocal performances are stellar, equally deserving of accolades here is guitarist Ice Dale. Having already proven his skills in I, Audrey Horne, and his regular band, Enslaved, Dale’s solo work takes an already excellent record and kicks it into the stratosphere. Instead of relying on the often atonal and unnecessarily speedy solos often found in extreme metal, Dale opts to bring in a melodic flavor more common to power metal than black metal. The resulting backing tracks balance perfectly with Demonaz’ vocals, and produce songs that are both grinding and harsh, but also melodic and memorable.
The only complaint to be made here would be in the lack of individuality many of the songs suffer from. This is almost entirely due to Armagedda’s repetitive drumming and the album’s insistence on staying at more or less one tempo. Granted, this could have been done on purpose to give the album a more unified feel, but unfortunately, it also has the negative effect of making many of the songs indistinguishable from one another.
Despite the sameness of several of the tracks, March of the Norse is still a top-echelon black metal release. While his role in Immortal may have changed, this album only reinforces why Demonaz is considered one of the most important members of the Norweigian black metal scene.
Genre: Black Metal
Band
Demonaz (v)
Ice Dale (g,b)
Armagedda (d)
Track Listing:
1. Northern Hymn
2. All Blackened Sky
3. March of the Norse
4. A Son of the Sword
5. Where Gods Once Rode
6. Under the Great Fires
7. Over the Mountains
8. Ode To Battle
9. Legends of Fire and Ice
10. Dying Sun (bonus track)
Label: Nuclear Blast
Website: www.immortalofficial.com
Hardrock Haven rating: 8.6/10