At the Heart of Winter is the fifth studio album by Norwegian black metal band Immortal. It was released on February 22, 1999 through Osmose Productions. It is the first Immortal album not to feature Demonaz on guitar, as he suffered from acute tendinitis in his hands, as well as the last album until Sons of Northern Darkness to feature Abbath on bass. The album marks a shift in Immortal's musical sound, towards a black metal and thrash metal fusion.[1]
| At the Heart of Winter | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | February 22, 1999 | |||
| Recorded | November 1998 | |||
| Studio | Abyss Studios, Sweden | |||
| Genre | Black metal | |||
| Length | 46:04 | |||
| Label | Osmose | |||
| Producer | Peter Tägtgren and Immortal | |||
| Immortal chronology | ||||
| ||||
Background
editAt the Heart of Winter was recorded in November 1998 at Abyss Studios in Sweden.[2] It is the first Immortal album not to feature a picture of the band on the cover, and the first to prominently feature the band's new logo, with the cover art was painted by J. P. Fournier.
Release
editIn addition to a CD release, At the Heart of Winter was released as a limited-edition metal box, as well as a hand-numbered LP on Osmose, which was later reissued in 2005.
Reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| Chronicles of Chaos | 9/10[3] |
| Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal | 9/10[4] |
| Decibel | 9/10[2] |
| Sputnikmusic | 4.5/5[5] |
At the Heart of Winter was well received by critics. John Serba of AllMusic praised the album, writing, "the result is a clarity and focus that few purveyors of the genre succeeded at finding, a painstakingly organized assemblage of black metal's base elements into a disciplined purity of metal that prefers the power of the almighty riff, instead of the occasionally overblown classical structuring of much-lauded stalwarts Emperor and Cradle of Filth, or the strange experimentation that Mayhem and Arcturus would undertake".[1]
Track listing
editAll lyrics are written by Demonaz Doom Occulta; all music is composed by Abbath Doom Occulta. Arranged by Abbath and Horgh
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Withstand the Fall of Time" | 8:29 |
| 2. | "Solarfall" | 6:02 |
| 3. | "Tragedies Blows at Horizon" | 8:55 |
| 4. | "Where Dark and Light Don't Differ" | 6:45 |
| 5. | "At the Heart of Winter" | 8:00 |
| 6. | "Years of Silent Sorrow" | 7:53 |
| Total length: | 46:04 | |
Personnel
edit- Immortal
- Abbath Doom Occulta – vocals, guitar, bass, synthesizer
- Horgh – drums
- Additional personnel
- Demonaz Doom Occulta – lyrics
References
edit- ^ a b c Serba, John. "At the Heart of Winter - Immortal : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards : AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
- ^ a b Bennett, J. "Decibel Magazine: Immortal - At the Heart of Winter". decibelmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2 January 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
- ^ Schwarz, Paul (19 May 1999). "CoC : Immortal - At the Heart of Winter : Review". Chronicles of Chaos. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
- ^ Popoff, Martin (1 August 2007). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 3: The Nineties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. pp. 205–206. ISBN 978-1-894959-62-9.
- ^ Ward, Kyle. "Immortal - At the Heart of Winter". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 2019-10-14.