Abbath, legendary figure of Black Metal, surfaces again with his new album.
Since 2015, Olve “Abbath” Eikemo (guitar/vocals/bass, Bömbers, ex-Immortal, ex-I, ex-Old Funeral) works under his own name, and it’s accompanied by Ukri Suvilehto (drums, Vermivore), Mia Wallace (bass, Nervosa, Niryth, ex-The True Endless) and Ole André Farstad (guitar, Ilti Milta) that he releases Dread Reaver, his third album.
The album begins with Acid Haze, a quite martial and hooking song which allows musicians to add Heavy-rooted leads into this solid basis. The ice-cold and aggressive ambience is perfect to welcome those recognizable vocals, driving us through sharp harmonics, then Scarred Core comes next with a slightly more groovy and soaring sound. We have some diversity on vocals to accompany the sound which becomes weighing on the end, then Dream Cull unveils a worrying clean introduction. Saturation will quickly come back to walk with oppressive vocals, building pessimistic and haunting sonorities, then piercing leads announce the end of the song, right before Myrmidon offers this dissonant and airy sound. The quite Old School suffocating ambience is extremely seizing, like on The Deep Unbound and its very aggressive tones. The fast-paced rhythmic wears devilish leads to frame vocals, then a horror scream opens Septentrion, leaving us with raw fastness and shrilling harmonics. The song is one of the most aggressives composed by the band, melting devastating blast with dissonant and uninterrupted riffs, then musicians handle a Metallica cover with the legendary Trapped Under Ice. The addition of the Black Metal veil to the Thrash composition is definitely successful, then the band goes back to dissonance with The Book Of Breath and its weighing tones. Whether the song’s first part focuses on an explosive rhythmic, riffs will slow down to bring us to a more impressive sound before Dread Reaver closes the album, with a last fix of this melting of hooking Black Metal with screaming Heavy influences. The cold sound still lets some majestic aura shroud it, and the unexpected final let us roam into the void.
Abbath needs no introduction for a lot of years. Acclaimed for its previous releases, the musician proves with Dread Reaver that his Black Metal basis coupled with Heavy influences and one of a kind vocals is very effective and definitely hooking. Mandatory listening.
90/100