Band's List Black Heavy I Between Two Worlds

[Originally posted August 26, 2010]

Apparently Abbath was bored with not having a band. So he teamed up with members from Enslaved, Sagh, and Gorgoroth to form a very unique band. I found out about this band from this guy on the internet who claims to be “the biggest black metal fan of all time”. I was intrigued by the name of this band; mainly because the entire name was just the letter I. The band hasn’t been very active. They’ve only played one concert, which was at the Hole in the Sky metal festival in Norway in august, 2006, the same month that they released their album. Since then, I has had no activity whatsoever. Abbath thought that this band would take off. But that same year, Immortal got back together, and that is probably the reason for the activity absence from I. But even though they haven’t done anything for over four years, there has never been anything said by the band that says they’re split up, or is even thinking about doing so. I have listened to this album plenty of times, and overall, it’s pretty damn good. There are a few things about the music that I would like to be different.

The band is very creative, tight, and uses a lot of influence from classic heavy metal bands. Abbath does his classic raw black metal vocal style with music that has a very old heavy metal sound. When I first heard this, it didn’t sound like something that would fit together very well. But when I heard the music, I was pleasantly surprised with how it sounded. It seems to have created more of a mainstream sound, somewhat similar to Soilwork, DevilDriver, and Nevermore. Their attempt at this has been somewhat of a failure. I do not think that they have done a very good job at being progressive, and unique. A lot of the songs sound similar, and a lot of the drumming and bass lines are repetitive and mediocre. All of the members having come from phenomenal bands, I honestly believe that they are capable of doing something much more amazing that Between Two Worlds. Besides the cons, the songs are catchy, they grab my attention, and the guitar solos are very delectable.

The Storm I Ride is strongly influenced by Motorhead and Queensryche. I can tell because of the faster beats and the way that the pitch of the vocals sounds with the down-tuned guitars. Also, the guitar solos remind me strongly of the style that the Queensryche guitarist plays. The title song has a very heavy, crunchy sound to it. Probably being influenced more by Nevermore and Black Sabbath, the title song has parts that sound very edgy, and some where the band isn’t very tight. Mountains has an ambient black sound during many parts of it, including the beginning, with the out of tune, slightly distorted guitar. The song also has too much of an Immortal sound to it. The reason why I think of this as a bad thing is that this isn’t Immortal! This is a different band that should have a different sound, because if it sounds similar to the band that the leader is also a part of, it shows a lack of creativity. But the album is still worth checking out. I think that if this band can’t get more progressive and technical, that they shouldn’t come out with a new album. This gets 13/20.