When this Norwegian black metal legend comes to your town, prepare for an epic sonic meltdown
Cloud, rain and cold, what better weather can I ask for a black metal show. Tonight, renowned black metal veteran Abbath is at the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver along with a couple local bands with Ruinous Power and Scalding.
If your not familiar with Abbath Doom Oculta (Olve Eikemo), his fame came to us from a Norwegian black metal band Immortal who began back in 1991. Things got real ugly within the band with naming rights and over various legal disputes, and in 2015 Abbath left the band. Thereafter, he has gone solo, releasing 3 albums with the latest being produced in 2022 called Dread Reaver. With Abbath on vocals and guitar, the other corpse painted musicians are Ole Andre Farstad (guitar), Andreas Salbu (bass) and Ukri Suvilehto (drums).
The tour is called ‘Return to the Raven Realms Summer Tour 2025’ and he will be doing a pure set of Immortal classics from his time in the band. Will he play any of his this night?
The fog machine is turned to high, and the lights go off, as “Withstand the Fall of Time” from Immortal’s album called At the Heart of Winter (1999), I am definitely at a black metal show. Abbath unmistakable voice carves right through your brain as he is in full black army mode with the armor and corpse paint. As with the rest of the band, who are also in corpse paint but wearing black, and definitely convincing.
During that 1st song, there was abit of a Spinal Tap moment as there was either something wrong with his teleprompter not working, or the fan but either way a stage hand was up on stage trying to resolve the situation. Abbath and Ole did not look amused as they chugged their way to song 2 with “Sons of Northern Darkness”.
And “Darkness” was just that too. No front lighting, and extreme fog throughout the entire Rickshaw Theatre, makes for terrible pictures. Also terrible, if anyone in front of Abbath actually wanted to see his famous corpse painted countenance which is marketed heavily on his merch. As I journeyed to the upper deck of the theatre after song 6 with “Damned in Black”, even in the lobby at the doors had fog. I don’t mind a little ambiance, but this was a little ridiculous. I always hear black metal bands wondering why they get no attention, it’s because they want no attention, even during their shows. The sound was great, but don’t expect much of a light show which as this your typical black metal show.
However, after saying all that, they do some great Immortal material, such as “Tyrants”, “Mountains of Might”, “Years of Silent Sorrow”, “All Shall Fall” were highlights for me. The band was tight and the 51 year old Abbath’s vocals were on point for the entire evening. The 11 song Immortal set ended with “The Sun No Longer Rises” with “Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark)”. Fans were begging for more after that, and I did hear some boos thereafter because they retired the instruments a little earlier than they hoped. After looking at my watch, it was about 10:20pm, but the show did begin at 7pm and Abbath roughly on around 8:45pm. If your looking to get a black metal fix, Abbath is definitely going to satisfy.
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