DEMONAZ - March of the Norse CD review

DEMONAZ - March of the Norse CD
Nuclear Blast Records
Genre: Black Metal
Rating: 4/5

Well calling this black metal might be stretching it a bit but it is Demonaz of IMMORTAL fame plus it's cold, Nordic and it was a hot day. Some people think that years ago when Demonaz developed tendonitis in his arm and was unable to play guitar anymore that he left IMMORTAL. That's false of course since he's always been at Abbath's side as his closest friend and song writing partner. Demonaz is also at all of IMMORTAL's concerts albeit backstage sometimes with or without their warpaint. So here we have his solo record which for all intensive purposes is merely a continuation of the IMMORTAL side project, I, who in 2006 came out with the Between Two Worlds release. Demonaz didn't play on that one either but he wrote all the lyrics for it. On March of the Norse he does the same and sings. As far as the musicianship is concerned Demonaz brought in former I members Ice Dale on guitar and bass plus Armagedda on drums. Now with all that said yes it sounds like IMMORTAL be it when they were channeling BATHORY on Sons of Northern Darkness and All Shall Fall.

Obviously I have a predisposition to like this since I'm a huge IMMORTAL fan and the fact is I do but it has one subtle difference and that's the vocals. On here Demonaz sounds far more raw then Abbath's patented demonic frog style but still very close. In fact so close that this could pass for a leaked IMMORTAL demo. After the acoustic intro, "Northern Hymn", the song "All Blackened Sky" charges forth with riffs right out of the last few IMMORTAL albums. The main difference is the solo by Dale since Abbath's technique is quite different, not as clean. Hell, Demonaz was a great guitarist as far as black metal goes back in his day. Dale does a great job all on this release. Every cut on here is decent since it's these thrash drenched riffs with BATHORY-esque melodies and background chorus'. "A Son Of The Sword" and "Where Gods Once Rode" are truly amazing. Of course after playing this for a few hours I've gotta play something from the real thing. Although this is still worth a spot in your IMMORTAL collection next to I's Between Two Worlds of course.

Label: http://www.nuclearblastusa.com/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/demonaz