Immortal – All Shall Fall (2009)

“All Shall Fall” is one of the most expected Black Metal releases from this legendary band. Seven years have passed since their last album “Sons Of Northern Darkness” and this release continues EXACTLY were they left off.

For some people this might be just perfect, and to some extent it is, but you would imagine that a band would learn something new after that amount of time. All band members have been playing in different bands and should have provided a creativity boost to this album.

“All Shall Fall” is a very formulaic album that shows what Immortal is good at and goes no further. I’m a very big fan of the band and I still enjoy this release but I was expecting something a little more innovative. However, for the traditional Immortal style this album is excellent and it will have people head banging from start to finish.

All lyrics are provided by Demonaz, who had to quit the band years ago due to sever tendonitis , but his lyric writing abilities are untouched and they provide very interesting stories for the music. My setting of choice for listening to Immortal has to be while walking in the snow at below zero temperatures.

Abbath and his Popeye sounding signature vocals are back as good as ever, an element that clearly forms part of the traditional Immortal sound. The guitar riffs are excellent as always and are very catchy, making the album very easy to listen to and to enjoy. However, if you mix the songs from “All Shall Fall” and “Sons Of Northern Darkness” you cant really tell which album you are listening to.

The drumming is very solid, courtesy of Horgh, providing the perfect back drop from all the melodies from the guitars. Thanks to the superb production of this album, you can also listen to the bass guitar with excellent clarity and provides a very good backing sound to add to the dense mix of guitar sounds and drumming.

I have to recognize that “All Shall Fall” is still a pretty good album, it might not provide anything new and original to the genre, but is still a worthy addition to Immortal’s impressive releases. And with all the crap BM albums out there, it’s a very solid contender for album of the year in our book.

Release: October 6, 2009

Country: Norway