Abbath / Primordial

Frontman of legendary Norwegian black metallers Immortal, Abbath's solo venture arrives in London, just days following the release of his self-titled debut. Back in March 2015, Abbath announced that Immortal would call it a day and he would plough his musical efforts into his solo project. However, former band mates Demonaz and Horgh contradicted Abbath's statement by saying Immortal never broke up and would continue with their vocalist's absence. Further setbacks continued to pester Abbath as his solo drummer Creature and live guitarist Per Valla left the line up but undeterred, the frontman quickly sourced new recruits for his European trek.

Ireland's most popular metal band Primordial are supporting with their idiosyncratic brand of loosely defined folk metal, drawing in varied metal influences including black, traditional doom and heavy. Their music is of a serious nature, both rabble-rousing and emotive as they blast off with 'Where Greater Men Have Fallen'. Frontman Alan Nemtheanga bedecked in his usual face paint emphatically communicates the mood of his music through his stage presence, constantly moving around the spacious stage as his signature vocals pierce through the venue.

Their support slot affords them time for a generous seven lengthy songs, almost all of them collected from the last trio of releases in the Irishmen's repertoire. The atmospheric tones of 'Bable's Tower', 'Gods to the Godless' and 'As Rome Burns' are done a disservice as the venue's sound tonight is woeful, completely submerging the guitars. Nonetheless, this does little to deter the enthusiastic crowd who mosh, sing and headbang with infinite gusto as if they were witnessing a headlining performance. The final number is Primordial's most popular anthem 'Empire Falls' and completes the set gloriously and leaves Abbath with the arduous task of surpassing a monumental performance.

Although many in attendance surely caught Immortal during their career, there is hesitation over expectations for Abbath's live show ,not least due to many of the audience not yet having heard the self-titled debut. Clad in his now infamous corpsepaint, Abbath takes the stage to a hearty roar of ovation and launches into new song 'To War!', black metal bearing more of a rock-tinged edge than the blackened purity of Immortal. Like Primordial before the headliners, the Norwegians are unjustly plagued by poor sound but the punters waste little time birthing mosh pits.

Admittedly, the music of Abbath's solo efforts are far from ground-breaking or fresh but fortunately for those who share this opinion, a fair portion of the set is composed of Immortal covers that receive much more enthused audience response. The likes of the fiery'One By One', the double-bass devoted 'Nebular Raven's Winter' and the punchy 'Tyrants' are more palatable than the 'Abbath' songs, as is the commendable inclusion of 'Warriors' from Abbath's highly lauded heavy/black metal project, I. His stage presence is decent and his backing band fit the bill suitably but something overall is lacking in the performance to mark it as particularly memorable. The final song of the night is the album's closer 'Endless' and the band vacates the stage rather abruptly. This sudden conclusion leads the crowd to remain resolute in the hopes of an encore but enough time elapses to signal the fans are left empty-handed with this expectation.

Abbath's debut solo performance in London feels somewhat underwhelming, magnified further when compared to the uncompromising efforts of their support act Primordial, who it seems are always appreciated by their audience no matter where they are. Admittedly some of the disappointments of the headliners are the fault of the venue's sound and out of the band's control but the sense of occasion or specialness was entirely absence – a stark contrast to the Immortal reunion appearances over the past few years.