IMMORTAL Frontman ABBATH: 'I Didn't Want To Go Solo In The First Place'

ABBATH, the new band led by IMMORTAL frontman Olve Eikemo (a.k.a. Abbath),made its live debut last month at the Tuska open-air metal festival in Helsinki, Finland.

Abbath announced that he was moving forward under his own name earlier this year. The IMMORTAL frontman and songwriter will enter the studio this summer to record ABBATH's debut album, which will be released in early 2016 via Season Of Mist.

Abbath last year claimed that he rightfully attempted to secure exclusive rights to the IMMORTAL name and logo after lyricist/guitarist Demonaz (real name Harald Nævdal) and drummer Horgh (real name Reidar Horghagen) effectively quit the legendary Norwegian black metal group.

"I didn't want to go solo in the first place," Abbath tells U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine. "I wanted the best for IMMORTAL. I didn't want it to end this way. First of all, I just wanted my music out. I wanted to record the [next] album [because] it's been so many years since 'All Shall Fall'. And both Demonaz and Horgh, they have kids and families now, and it just hit that point where I couldn't work the way they wanted to work any more. I wanted things on my terms and they wanted things on their terms, and it was very difficult."

He continued: "I wanted to rehearse at least three times a week, but often it was only once a week and things went so slow. I sat there with all this material, I kept the rehearsal space and recorded the stuff on click track, but it was a very strained atmosphere and the Last time we worked together was in early June last year."

Asked if the decision to part ways and seek out new band members was inevitable, Abbath said: "I was forced to do it this way. I wanted IMMORTAL to continue, but not the way it was. The dialogue has not been there and it's also my mistake. I should have brought up this shit a long time ago, but IMMORTAL, after Demonaz's problems with his arms, it never became a band after that."

He continued: "IMMORTAL is a very special situation. [Demonaz] hasn't been in the band, but then I always wanted to do the best for everybody, to have the band spirit, and that's why when we decided to start IMMORTAL again, we tried to get the spirit back, and bring him on tour, and just share our thing and be a band and have a kick-ass time. But it never worked out. The chemistry wasn't there with the IMMORTAL guys and hadn't been for a while."

Abbath added: "I believe in my music and I believe in my expression, but time flies and we grow apart. Maybe in the future we can go back again, I don't know, but right now I just want to do my thing and just be ABBATH and have people around me who support that."

Bass duties for ABBATH are being handled by a man familiar to metal fans across the world — Tom Cato Visnes, more widely known as King Ov Hell and main composer for several GORGOROTH albums as well as his own bands OV HELL, with singer Shagrath from DIMMU BORGIR, and GOD SEED, with exceptional black metal vocalist Gaahl. His fellow GOD SEED member and BORKNAGAR percussionist, Baard Kolstad, has also joined ABBATH on drums.

At Tuska, ABBATH premiered a brand new song titled "Fenrir Hunts" alongside classic IMMORTAL material, including "One By One". A handful of songs from Abbath and King's 2006 project I were performed live for the first time.

IMMORTAL's core trio consisting of Abbath, Demonaz and Horgh had been together since 1996 and has been responsible for crafting the band's last five albums: "Blizzard Beasts" (1997),"At The Heart Of Winter" (1999),"Damned In Black" (2000),"Sons Of Northern Darkness" (2002) and the 2009 reunion album "All Shall Fall".