Norway's coldest black metal act, Immortal, have made headlines over the last two years as the band famously split with longtime band leader Abbath. For the first time in the band's history, the iconic frontman will not be featured on one of their albums, as Demonaz and Horgh will enter the recording studio in January to work on the ninth Immortal disc.

Demonaz has served as the band's chief lyricist since 1991, though he was forced to stop playing guitar in 1997 due to severe tendonitis. He now has taken on the role of both guitarist and vocalist alongside drummer Horgh and bassist Apollyon who has been in the group since 2006.

Despite the three-piece lineup, Demonaz and Horgh are considered to be the core duo now behind Immortal and they released the following statement regarding the immediate future:

The songs have been ready for some time, but we wanted to record it at the right place and time. We will once again work with Peter Tägtgren at Abyss Studio who produced our four last albums. The band will enter the studio during wintertime to have the right atmosphere.

We look forward to record and present the new album to the Immortal hordes sometime in 2017.

The tracks that will appear on the album are: 'Northern Chaos Gods', 'Into Battle Ride', 'Gates To Blashyrkh', 'Blacker Of Worlds', 'Where Mountains Rise', 'Grim And Dark', 'Called To Ice', and 'Ravendark'.

Blashyrkh, December 2016

Demonaz and Horgh

In June earlier this year, Demonaz and Horgh accused Abbath of stealing material Immortal had written for this ninth record, taking the songs for his own under use of his solo moniker. Upon his exit, Abbath allegedly changed the song titles and lyrics to these songs, which then became part of the Abbath album, which was released in January.

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