INTERVIEW: Demonaz – Immortal

IMMORTAL have been paving the way for black metal for the best part of 30 years but this was all thrown into disarray when the ever comedic yet captivating presence of Abbath left the fold after their 2009 release All Shall Fall. This left the fans with a lot of uneasiness. It was announced back in April that the band would be returning as a two piece to deliver their long awaited follow up entitled Northern Chaos Gods via Nuclear Blast Records on July 6th. We caught up with founding member Demonaz to get the low down on the future of IMMORTAL and what we can expect from their eagerly anticipated return.

Northern Chaos Gods is IMMORTAL’s first album in almost 10 years and the first one without Abbath, was it a relief to get all of the drama out of the way and focus on the music again?

Demonaz: After All Shall Fall, me, Abbath and Horgh were looking at a follow up album and in 2015 there were conflicts and disagreements between us and Abbath and he left the band. It was a relief to finally have the focus on just music rather than problems and disagreements. That made it easier to make an album and do everything the way its supposed to be when you’re making music. So yeah, it was finally better for everybody and something we could feel confident about.

Was there any added pressure to ensure this album was worth the wait?

Demonaz: The pressure is always there when you do an album I think. It’s not a big pressure but in a way it’s an apparent drive. For what reason would you release an album is there wasn’t some tension to it? It should be positive tension though right? I was really confident about everything and the problems had disappeared. Focusing on the music is what I’m good at so in a way making those songs and starting from scratch with the Northern Chaos Gods track and knowing there was freedom this time. I wrote every riff, all the lyrics which was different but a good feeling, the pressure you speak of will always be there in a way, like what happened to the band people were also sceptical. We decided ‘lets talk to the press when the album is on the table, not before.’

After being the main lyrical contributor for many years did you enjoy being able to bring your work to life on this album?

Demonaz: I started this band, when my thrash metal band AMPUTATION was at an end I had the name IMMORTAL and wanted to start a new band and I asked Abbath if he wanted to join me because I learned to know him some months later. He was telling me he wanted to join the band but he had to finish off his concerts with OLD FUNERAL first. We started IMMORTAL and all this happened. I was the main guitarist from the beginning and all the lyrics and everything. So pretty much what developed as IMMORTAL was my work in that period. In 1997 I got tendinitis in my arm but I continued writing and playing guitar in the rehearsal space but I never played live with the band again after that and because I didn’t play live people thought lyrics was all I did. I think this album proves that it was a bit different but it was normal for me to do the singing, to step in and take that responsibility. We didn’t see anyone else that could do it in a way, the lyrics, the vision, everything has been in me since the start. I live and breathe IMMORTAL,for three decades now so it was a pleasure in a way.

You’ve released the title track Northern Chaos Gods so far, how has the response been?

Demonaz: Awesome and intense you could say. I think the fans have reacted really well towards it and the same with the media. We had a listening session for the whole album some months ago and yeah, we felt like there was a huge response to it and the promotions we have done elsewhere in Europe for four days, London, Paris and in Germany. The response from the media has been really really good and the fans seem to be really ready for the release now!

Were you worried about any negative backlash as people can be quite apprehensive to change and Abbath was quite a big figurehead for IMMORTAL?

Demonaz: Not really, I was really confident with it as we know how this band functions and we know how the music was made and how IMMORTAL functions you know? A lot of people probably thought IMMORTAL was Abbath‘s band as he is always quite visible live, he was the face of the band in that way. When people have the album it’s a different story. I don’t know if you have heard the whole album?

Oh yeah, I’ve had the chance to listen to the whole thing and from my opinion it’s exactly the kind of statement you guys needed to make, to settle the nerves of the doubters and it is everything we have come to expect from IMMORTAL so the future is definitely in safe hands!

Demonaz: You can probably see why I was confident, it sounds IMMORTAL. It is IMMORTAL. I couldn’t change that even if I wanted to. It’s how I make the music. No matter what you do some people will always say it’s shit you know? [Laughs]. You could try to release a new telephone or whatever, like Steve Jobs with the iPhone and there would always someone who would be like “this telephone sucks” and when the next one comes out someone will say “the last one was fucking good” [Laughs]. It is the same for IMMORTAL too. When our first album came out people were saying it was shit, when the second album came out the same people said “Oh well I loved the first one, the new one is no good”. This whole way of talking shit about things wasn’t created with the internet, it was already there from before.

[laughs] yeah, I think people just enjoy having something to complain about to be honest!

Demonaz: People love to complain but there has been a really great response after they heard the first song. It’s hard to convince some fans of the band with just four and a half minutes but I think so far there has definitely been a great response.

How are you going to proceed from a live standpoint? I know Peter Tägtgren played bass on the recording but do you see him playing a further role in the band or do you think you will hire session musicians for touring?

Demonaz: We are going to go back after all this work with promotion, we have a lot of signing sessions and interviews to come after that we will have a vacation and then we will get into the rehearsal room after that and pick up with the live situation. We haven’t established anything yet so we have to take care of that. I think it was a good thing to do with focusing just on the album rather than having some big pressure on and going on some half hearted tour just to go with the release. I think we should approach this the same way and establish something really good so we can do it all properly so we will make the announcements as soon as we are ready.

Thanks very much for your time, I’ll leave you with one final question. Is there anything you would like to say to the readers of Distorted Sound?

Demonaz: I hope that they will stick with us and bang their heads off when they get the new album and we hope that they will support you and us and stay true to their roots.

Excellent, best of luck for the album release. There has clearly been a lot of hard work put into it and I’m sure the fans will love it. 

Demonaz: Thanks very much man, good talk, take care.

Northern Chaos Gods is set for release on July 6th via Nuclear Blast Records.

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