(((O))) : Abbath – Electric Ballroom, Camden

“You lot could be seeing Taylor Swift right now,” quips James McBain of Aberdeen’s Hellripper, “but thanks for coming out early to see us!” While it’s true that the sequined hordes of Swifties that descended upon Wembley tonight seemed to encapsulate the whole city, the Ballroom is obviously still packed in preparation for the return of metal’s most eccentric headliner. I’m aware that a speed-metal-punk and thrashing-black-metal audience isn’t an obvious competitor for the Queen of mega-pop, but you never know… Still, if you’re in the Electric Ballroom tonight, chances are you’re here for ‘Grim and Frostbitten Kingdoms’ and not ‘Snow on the Beach’.

I’ve never seen Hellripper live before but I know they’ve built up quite a reputation for no-nonsense, high-energy satanic thrash – and that’s exactly what they give us. McBain isn’t here to fuck around and he says as much, with heads banging and pits swirling from the outset. A one-man-band on record, McBain is rounded out to a full band live, delivering super-tight, super-crisp metal anthems that could belong to a long-lost 80s gem. Just as one catchy, double-stop riff has been established, the melodic lead whisks it into another one – and it’s all rather bewilderingly good.

Tracks like ‘Goat Vomit Nightmare’ may not win awards for lyrical subtlety (“I am beast/Sacrifice/Hear my cursed prayer/Goat vomit nightmare”) but you can certainly find complexity and detail in the riff-shifts and solos. ‘Bastard of Hades’ sounds like a mash-up of ‘Black Metal’ and ‘The Four Horsemen’ in the best way.

Hellripper. Photo: Talie Rose Eigeland

It feels like a short set, but Hellripper compresses so much into their half hour – so many dense little riffs and well-crafted solos – that this scarcely matters, and the setlist still seems to cover all of their releases to date. Hellripper deliver speed, aggression and melody in a thoroughly enjoyable combination.

In case you somehow accidentally stumbled into the Ballroom on the way to Wembley, the King of the Crabwalk has his name emblazoned across the stage in huge letters.  So Abbath is playing material from his old band Immortal – frosty kings of fantasy black metal – with whom, as I’m sure you know, there is bad blood. We’re all no doubt familiar with similar situations in other massive metal bands who split up where one group gets the name and someone goes solo, and we end up with two post-split versions playing the same songs. Abbath: You’re on your own, kid. So tonight’s set is entirely Immortal classics (Abbath’s Version). This run of shows is billed as a celebration of Abbath’s legacy in Immortal, spanning the period 1992–2009 and “framed by the most spectacular stage show Abbath ever has undertaken.”

Abbath. Photo: Talie Rose Eigeland

Having caught his solo set in Islington back in 2019, I knew how good he can be. There is no showbiz nonsense tonight with fire and blood as I thought Abbath might have busted out, given his love of Kiss. This is just a badass setlist of Immortal classics delivered perfectly and aggressively. It’s a rather pointless exercise to try and figure out if Abbath playing Immortal solo is better than Immortal in any guise playing their own songs, as I’ve never seen Immortal in any form. But I can’t help wondering this, all the same. The important thing is that this show feels like Immortal are playing: the vibe is right, as is the sound. Abbath’s band – Ole Andre Farstad: Guitar, Andreas Salbu: Bass, Ukri Suvilehto: Drums – consisting of other Norweigan musicians, is similar to the recording line-up for his latest album Dread Reaver but switching out Mia Wallace on bass. And they sure look the part, clad in custom-made studded leather trench coats, even if they’re not going for full Immortal armour like our hero.

Abbath. Photo: Talie Rose Eigeland

Well, actually, maybe we’re rooting for the anti-hero here. If you’ve seen some of the old show footage of Abbath when he’s struggling, and when he’s being rude to interviewers, you’ll know how difficult it is to watch. But he seems in a much, much better place now: it’s time to put that stuff behind us. . .  because Abbath goes hard. He delivers an utterly glorious, perfectly-crafted heavy metal show and no one leaves without acknowledging that he’s a fine musician indeed. Every note of his famous toad-croak rasps your ears exactly as you’d hope; and every tremolo flurry is as tight and distinct as you’d expect. That cannot be said of his confusingly gabbled between-song banter, however, which does make for moments of unintentional comedy:

“HelloLondonwe’vegotaveryspecialeveningforyoutonight!”

Damn, this setlist is so well-chosen. It begins with the snowy winds and epic grandeur of ‘Mount North’ – never played live before apparently – peaking mid-way with the stunning perfection of ‘Tyrants’, and prolonging that energy until the conclusion with ‘Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark)’, the song that defines their sound and mythology. It has a sense of narrative that really suits Immortal, feeling like a long album played through in its entirety. Over the course of 90 minutes, we get songs from almost every release up to 2009, wisely avoiding Blizzard Beasts in favour of early material from Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism and Total Holocaust.

“Whoooaha!”

Abbath. Photo: Talie Rose Eigeland

It’s all about the little breaks between the riffs for me tonight, providing stunning moments of calm amidst the storm. A prolonged gap in the middle of ‘Tyrants’ where Abbath can fool around a bit, keeping the crowd hungry for that chorus to kick in, knowing there’s no way they can lose the momentum on this one.

“Alright! We’regonnagobackintimethisisanoldone!”

The break two minutes into ‘Solarfall’ where we drop to clean guitar over textured drum patterns a couple of times, before suddenly breaking into a classic thrash riff that’s distinctly Immortal’s own. And the similar clean break in ‘Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark)’ which, sounding slightly tacked-on to the recording, come across as perfected live.  

“AlrightLondonyouwerefuckinggreattonight!”

You made the right choice if you came to see Abbath tonight. He may not be playing Wembley Stadium but he should be. This isn’t just a show that means you can tick off seeing Abbath play Immortal: it reinforces Abbath’s status as heavy metal legend. He may be saying so long, London, for now, following the tour around Europe and back home to Blashyrkh. But you know he’ll be back, and so will we. And it’ll be fucking beautiful.

Abbath. Photo: Talie Rose Eigeland