Do you ever revisit an album that meant a lot in your formative years and find that it hasn’t lost any of its luster? Not just because it holds great nostalgic value, but because it still aligns well with current musical tastes? Painkiller and Hatebreeder are two albums that might still fit this criteria for me, but within my favorite genre of black metal there’s one album above all others that still hits just as hard in 2024 as it did when I first heard it circa 2009: Immortal’s 1999 opus At the Heart of Winter. This blackened Blashyrkh blizzard was not just a turning point in Immortal’s discography personnel-wise — with Abbath taking over axe duties from Demonaz — but saw the band’s sound reinvigorated with melodic, thrashy, and almost progressive (for Immortal, at least) riff and songwriting choices. Today marks the 25th anniversary of the album’s release, so let’s journey to colder times and grimfaced realms and rediscover some of the magic that makes this album so great.

After the release of Blizzard Beasts in 1997, Immortal were in desperate need of a revitalization; not just because Demonaz was forced to quit his guitar duties due to tendonitis, but because the musical direction (or perhaps, lack thereof) of that album was simply no longer tenable. I do believe Blizzard Beasts is quite underrated and suffers from poor and inconsistent production more than anything, as the Morbid Angel-inspired early death metal-isms throughout make it a more interesting listen than it gets credit for — but nevertheless the time had come for a change in direction. At the Heart of Winter was Abbath’s time to shine, and shine he did. The blistering start and stop death metal-influenced riffs of the previous release were traded in for groovier, thrash-inspired riffs topped off by a masterful production job courtesy of Peter Tägtgren — the result is a nonstop avalanche of great riffs.

Just listen to the first few minutes of opener “Withstand the Fall of Time” alone to get a glimpse of everything At the Heart of Winter has to offer… that crunchy, ice cold guitar tone that expertly balances rawness and listenability, Abbath’s thunderous bass tone (hard to pick out in the mix at times, but when you hear it you really hear it), and Horgh’s drumming perfectly changing from hyperspeed blasts and more standard fare when needed. The blackened opening is great enough, but when the first groovier riff kicks in? The expectations set by Immortal changed forever. And not just with this more rhythmically-oriented riffing style, but the “Abbathian” chords that would continue to characterize the band’s sound even after his departure.

When it comes to black metal I usually find the atmospheric side of the genre much more interesting, but At the Heart of Winter is easily the biggest exception; every song is just filled to the brim with top-notch riffage. Not just in how cold they sound or in the ease in which you can headbang to them, but often in technical terms; just take “Tragedies Blows at Horizon” as an example, with that more complicated descending riff transformed several times over the course of the song — coupled with the near-breakdown sections in the middle and end of the track (also featuring some pinch harmonics so over the top you can practically see Abbath’s stank face in your mind’s eye), it’s clear how much these few changes to the established sound paid off in leaps and bounds.

Of course, any discussion regarding the musical aspects of At the Heart of Winter would be remiss if I didn’t bring up the other element of the formula that fills in the gaps between the hyperborean riffs: the clean guitar sections. Sure, they’re pretty simplistic and sound the same on basically every song — individual notes of a chord played in a triplet fashion — but they add quite a lot to the overall atmosphere! This clean playing first appeared on Battles in the North’s closing track “Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark)” and made another big appearance on Blizzard Beasts epic “Mountains of Might,” so their more prominent inclusion on this album feels like a natural progression. The title track certainly wouldn’t be complete without the clean guitar intro (aided greatly by keyboards) as it really helps in setting the mood for building up to the heavy riffs. I love the more classic heavy metal feeling present throughout the slower riffs on this song too, no doubt stemming from Abbath’s love of bands like Motörhead, Kiss, and AC/DC. This is probably my favorite track on the entire album as it kicks into overdrive with those truly epic trem-picked melodies that feel like a blackened version of Amon Amarth at their very best, not to mention the extended solo from Abbath. Immortal have certainly never had a proggy bone in their musical DNA, but this track showcases them at their most forward-thinking; if his guitar lessons are anything to go by I’m not sure if Abbath could even pinpoint what was going on in the studio to warrant such songwriting and riff-crafting prowess, but I’m certainly thankful for whatever it was.

If there’s any criticism to be made of At the Heart of Winter, it would be towards what I had already referenced with regards to the clean guitar sections: the issue of similarity between every song here. I burned a CD of this album for a friend in high school, and even at our young ages that was a criticism he levied against it; it’s definitely a valid point, but when the riffs are this good I’ll take more and more of the same! More varied and expansive black metal had come before this — and certainly would come as the genre has branched into innumerable forms since — but when breaking the genre down to its basic foundations of dark, cold riffs there are few albums that do it better. Immortal may always have a goofier reputation among the pantheon of classic black metal bands (a reputation greatly aided by the now-legendary and perpetually memeable At the Heart of Winter promotional pics), but as I stated in my last black metal retrospective they were truly the unsung riff masters of 1990s Norway.

The back of official At the Heart of Winter shirts feature headshots of Abbath and Horgh and the text “Only the music of the truly dedicated will survive!” Taking this to heart it’s hard to argue against the dedication put forth on this album, and I believe it will withstand the fall of time and stand forever as one of the highest peaks black metal ever reached. A grim and frostbitten masterpiece for the ages.

— Colin

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For more information on Immortal, check out their official website.