Abbath needs no introduction, and by now neither does his solo act. His first two albums were widely received as good additions to the black metal genre and featured some twists to the classical take on the style with lots of rock ‘n’ roll-ish passages and a more easy-going attitude. ‘Dread Reaver’ takes this less demonic (with the exception of the cover artwork, of course), more metal aura into a deeper level by toning down the cryptic and somber in benefit of a more direct style of playing.
The Norwegian Immortal is again accompanied by ‘Outstriders’ members Ukri Suvilehto (drums), Mia Wallace (bass) and Ole André Farstad (guitars), but different than the sophomore album, this time around the band opted for simpler, less experimental metal. First songs “Acid Haze” and “Scarred Core” already make this very clear from the chords to the choruses, riffs to kitchen-work. True, there is the occasional chaotic, proto-black part here and there, but the offering here is just a dark, low-tune take on a more traditional style of metal with harsh vocals.
Of course, even with this over-simplistic (which is often times best) approach and leaving aside that strong sense of ritualistic and epic design for music common to the black metal bands – especially those natural to the second wave, Immortal being one case – Abbath hasn’t lost his icy touch or ran out of ideas to haunt his listeners. And fear not, purist black metaller, because there are also plenty of moments that reminisce Abbath’s most glorious moments during the 90’s/00’s such as the bombastic “Septentrion” and the atmospheric, yet brutal “The Book of Breath”. Both songs easily transport us to the ‘Damned in Black’-‘Sons of Northern Darkness’ era.
Most tracks here are classic Abbath. The over-confident and swift mid-paced gems that are his trademarks are present in abundancy here. “Dream Cull”, for instance, is played at exactly the tempo Abbath sounds most comfortable in, and it keeps the power and instrumental part flowing exactly as we’d hoped. Slow burning songs like “Myrmidon” lean heavily on the rock elements of the norwegian’s sound, and sound a lot like his past act, I. Ending piece and title-track “Dread Reaver” proves why Abbath is a black metal god, combining the riffing of ‘All Shall Fall’ and ‘At the Heart of Winter’ with some pure blues-rock licks made frigid by the dude’s seemingly innate knack for the genre. It’s pure groovy black metal in a truly Abbath way.
The album has another factor in his favor: its release is safely far apart from Immortal’s last output ‘Northern Chaos Gods’ and there’s no sign of another album coming from the other side of the fence, so this roams free of comparisons and, therefore, can be seen as it really is. For all that the stomp and swagger here epitomizes the structural ethos of Abbath at his most confident-self, some cuts stick to even more intriguing targets. The majority of the songs here manage the dualities of being incongruous yet hooky and epic yet simple, proving that black metal doesn’t need to choose a path that takes in only half of those qualities.
At the same time ‘Dread Reaver’ lacks ferocity and that raw brutality we’re accustomed to see in black metal outings, the fountain is far from drying and there are still some jaw-wrecking compositions left in Abbath’s sleeve, who doesn’t need to reinvent himself to continue being relevant. While I did found this the weakest of Abbath’s solo career to date, it’s still something to keep in mind if you want a generous slice of black metal with some rock ‘n’ roll elements to keep it fresh.