Demonaz has worked with his music “family” for his long-anticipated first solo album; we have Abbath on bass guitar, Armagedda on drums and Ice Dale on guitar. This line-up may inevitably bring the mighty Immortal in our mind but the record is heavily influenced from the epic/Viking era of Bathory, with a blend of harsh groovy riffs and heavy metal guitars (sounding almost like in “Bettween Two Worlds” by I; the other project band of Demonaz, Abbath, Ice Dale and Armagedda) and with Demonaz’s thrashy/Motörhead-styled vocals. The drumming is dynamic but don’t expect any blastbeats.
“March Of The Norse” is a blackened heavy metal album full of memorable, strong and melodic epic tunes. The fact that the intro (“Northern Hymn”) sounds like Bathory’s “Oden Rides Over Nordland” or that in tracks like “Where Gods Once Rode” and “Ode To Battle” can be heard epic Bathory-styled choruses is not surprising. After all Demonaz has put forward his admiration towards Quorthon’s music several times.
However while listening to “Over The Mountains” I was thinking that if the production was polished this particular song could fit perfectly in a Manowar album….and that’s when I remembered of an honest statement made by Demonaz to Express Night Out e-zine (the interview can be read on the official Immortal web page). There he admits he is a “brother of metal” by saying: “I always write like Manowar – with a lot of pride, a lot of power, a lot of praise. It’s like standing on a hillside and watching the world fall down, and having your fist [in the air] and saying, ‘Forget about it. Fuck ’em all”.
Hail brother!
Bottom-line: a great album for fans of almost every heavy metal genre.
