Two brand new releases — one a remastered version of 80s metal, the other a brand new single. Compositions separated by decades, but illustrating raw melody in its most natural habitat — old school black and thrash metal — at threatening velocity. Immortal and Megadeth school of craft is on stunning display. Records developed in different eras, but still sharing a common context; Mustain proving he can play as well, or better, than Metallica — and Immortal going into studios for the first time without Abbath.

Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good is already a classic, its testament is simply its massive influence. Immortal’s new single takes no prisoners, they launch headlong into an aggression totally missing from their last few works. An icy chill descends, rewinding music to the darkest corners of mid-90s. Worth mentioning there are striking 1349 like qualities here, another essential Norwegian talent. If the whole album is even a fraction as good as “Northern Chaos Gods”, we are in for an early winter.

—– Image Attribution
By Mark Coatsworth [CC BY-SA 4.0], from Wikimedia Commons