Formed in 1990 by the duo of Abbath and Demonaz
as card-carrying members of the first wave of true Norwegian black
metal,
Immortal reigned supreme throughout their career, with their formative
albums embodying the primitive early scene as well as any band, while
at the same time they progressed as songwriters as time went on
without betraying their early roots.
Their 2002 album Sons Of Northern Darkness drew rave
reviews from all walks of metal and is considered by many to be one of
the top albums of that year, but a year later
came the somewhat sudden announcement that they were
disbanding for personal reasons.
The rhythm section of Iscariah and Horgh were later seen in
Necrophagia
and
Hypocrisy, respectively,
while mainman Abbath played in a
Motorhead
cover band for some time, and later formed
I, releasing an album in 2006.
Immortal itself later reformed and
released the comeback album All Shall Fall in 2009,
but then lapsed back into inactivity.
Finally, unable to resolve legal naming issues with his former bandmates,
Abbath stated that Immortal is no more and that he would forge
ahead with a new lineup and a new band named simply
Abbath.
Demonaz and Horgh countered, stating that Abbath had left them but they
are continuing as Immortal.
