Review by SilentScream213 for Immortal - Sons of Northern Darkness (2002)

Immortal continue their style of riff-driven Black Metal, still heavily influenced by Thrash. And it’s still delicious.

Honestly, there’s not too much to say about the album if you’ve heard the previous few. Perfected Black-Metal shrieks that are low, intelligible and strong – check. Fantastic riffing finding that sweet spot between dissonant and melodic – check. Walls of Black Metal Tremolo picked guitar – check. Rhythm section that is technical and varied far and above the standard for Black Metal – check. Bass that can be FELT – check. Lyrical endeavors that are on-topic yet serious, epic, and triumphant – check. No weaknesses and every strength one could hope to find in the genre.

There was just one thing that stuck out to me about this album, and that’s the fact that the production is so damn HEAVY. Most Black Metal albums have paper thin production, and even better produced stuff usually leans on the treble-heavy side of Metal. Sons of Northern Darkness feels like a sledgehammer of solid ice bashing your head in repeatedly. You can really hear the power of the drums and bass crushing you under their weight. I can’t quite recall whether or not the previous records had such power on the production end, but this is probably the best production I’ve heard on a Black Metal album. Mind you, it’s not overproduced at all. There’s still chilly walls of buzzing guitars, and even the leads have an aspect of messy imperfection to them. It still sounds natural, sounds like Black Metal – but God is it powerful.