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Immortal was a prominent Black Metal band from Bergen , Norway . The group began in 1989 as "Amputation", a Death Metal band. Immortal's early full-length releases were of a traditional black metal style, but their acclaimed album "At the Heart of Winter" saw the band begin to experiment with a complex fusion of black metal and German thrash. The resultant sound was a style which characterized Immortal's later works. Immortal has been influential to many modern metal artists. Its founders, Abbath and Demonaz, have attained a legendary status in the Scandinavian heavy metal scene. Out of these many bands Immortal has arguably maintained the most occult-mysticism image and way of life traditionally credited to black metal. Their peculiar music style of black melodic metal has guaranteed them a spot on the list of the best bands in the history of the genre, and has most definetely triggered the rise of their albums sales, even though most of the albums are quite difficult to obtain. BIOGRAPHY "Amputation" recorded their first two demos in 1989 with Demonaz Doom Occulta and Jorn Tunsberg on guitars, Abbath Doom Occulta on bass and vocals, and Armagedda on drums. The group changed its name to "Immortal" around 1990 - 1991 . Their third demo, ''Unholy Forces of Evil'', saw a stylistic change to Black Metal and earned them a record contract. Tunsberg played many of the guitar parts of Immortal's first album ''Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism'', but is not officially credited. Gradually, Immortal gained immense popularity in the underground, releasing several highly-acclaimed records on the French label Osmose. Unlike many other black metal bands, Immortal's Lyrical theme was not based around Satanism , but rather dealt with an imaginary kingdom called Blashyrkh where an eponymous Raven-God of frost rules. Arguably, their best effort from this early period is ''Pure Holocaust'', which served as a genre-defining milestone. In 1995, the band released two video clips directed by British artist David Palser entitled ''Masters of Nebulah Frost'' through Osmose Productions . They featured many bizarrely-shot images of frozen landscapes and vast forests. These clips have become the template for many other bands producing such works. Apart from the two core members Abbath and Demonaz, Immortal didn't find a stable lineup until 1996 , when drummer Horgh joined the band. In 1997 , main lyricist and Guitarist Demonaz suffered an arm injury (acute Tendonitis ) and was unable to continue playing. Still, he continued writing new material and managed the band, while Bassist Abbath took over the guitar duty. In 2000 , Immortal signed a record contract with German label Nuclear Blast ; this change to a more prominent record company didn't affect their style, something which they proved on their latest record, ''Sons of Northern Darkness''. Immortal decided to split during the summer of 2003 for personal reasons of the band members. However, in mid-October 2005, Abbath, Demonaz and original Immortal drummer Armagedda reunited, and along with Gorgoroth bassist King and Enslaved guitarist Arve Isdal, they began work on a new project, dubbed "I". This new band will enter the studio at the end of april 2006 to begin recording their debut album, which will feature lyrics written primarily by former Immortal guitarist Demonaz. A late 2006 release is expected. NOTES
DISCOGRAPHY Studio releases
Demos and bootlegs
BAND MEMBERS Main members
Session members
EXTERNAL LINKS
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