Immortal @ Brooklyn Masonic Temple
As part of Adam Shore’s Blackened Music Series, Brooklyn’s Black Anvil and Norway’s Immortal teamed up for an evening of tremolo picking and thrashing riffs.
The aesthetic outside was perfect for an Immortal show. Mist sprinkled hordes of black jackets and jeans waiting outside Brooklyn’s Masonic Temple. Clothes grew damp. People grew cold. No one complained. As bodies scooted closer to the doors, dialect that ranged from Spanish to Norwegian advanced from subtle murmur to vibrant conversation. Vapor escaped from mouths into the dark night.
As the sole opener for Immortal, black ‘n death trio Black Anvil executed with force. Despite New York’s remarkably unresponsive crowds, they jump-started the night with a tight performance, practically playing Time Insults the Mind from beginning to finish. Tracks like “Margin For Terror” and “777” sounded as aggressive as they do on record. Two new tracks, “With Transparent Blood” and “Scalping” promised more slick thrashing black metal ahead.
Yet their stage presence was surprisingly subdued. A little air kick, fist punch, or headbang could have come in handy. Perhaps they were saving their energies for the real show.
That came after a long-winded intro of darkness and fog. Lights flooded Horgh, Apollyon, and Abbath as they dove into “All Shall Fall” — a belly flop into the deep end that tingled throughout their 90-minute set.
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Immortal were careful to balance “new shit” with ’90s classics from Pure Holocaust and Battles in the North. But these didn’t pack the punch of the more recent “Tyrants” and “Unearthly Kingdom”. They hit these tracks dead on. The wave of precision nearly knocked the crowd unconscious. Maybe that’s because we were packed so tightly, I didn’t touch the ground until after the encore.
Abbath paused between songs to express his appreciation for the “hordes” of American “motherfuckers”. Apollyon smiled (yes, smiled) broadly and waved many a thumbs-up at the screaming and devil horns. We were all excited that Immortal were excited that we were excited. The camaraderie felt like a massive birthday party, not like the cold depths of Blashyrkh.
But after 20 years of battles in the north, Immortal should be nothing but smiles. Their contributions have revolutionized black metal. (Whether or not we take them seriously is a different argument.) Abbath’s repeated, yet abrasive “thank you”‘s finished off a perfect night.
