Abbath at Webster Hall's Grand Ballroom

Abbath Doom Occulta

Olve Eikemo, better known by his stage name Abbath Doom Occulta, is from Lysefjorden just outside Bergen in Norway, where as a young boy, he was a great fan of Kiss. His musical career started with the band Old Funeral, and later the death metal band Amputation in 1989, which evolved into the black metal band Immortal. Immortal split in 2002, reunited in 2006, and split again in 2015. Occulta was also in two side projects, a Motörhead tribute band called Bömbers in 1996 and a band called I in 2006. Following his departure from Immortal in 2015, Occulta formed a new band under the name Abbath with Occulta on guitar and vocals and King Ov Hell from God Seed on bass. Abbath the band released its debut self-titled album on January 22, 2016.

At Webster Hall's Grand Ballroom tonight, Abbath was rounded out with guitarist Ole André Farstad and drummer Gabe "Creature" Seeber. As the house lights dimmed, the four musicians came on stage to an orchestral-sounding fanfare amidst a billowing dry-ice fog and blinding red lights wearing corpse face-paint and black apocalyptic wardrobe. As the band has recorded only one album, the 13-song set relied heavily on Immortal songs, which were likely more familiar to the audience. Abbath specialized in mid-tempo drudges that often erupted into volatile, hair-spinning moshers. Occulta played up the sinister image, often confronting the audience with seemingly menacing poses, adding a bit of light humor to otherwise dark and heavy music. Occulta's snarling growl was ever present, but unfortunately some of the bright extended guitar leads were buried in the mix, sometimes resulting in a thudding, repetitious three-chord groove. In all, it seemed that Abbath seamed where Immortal left off, which will thrill many extreme metal fans.

Visit Abbath at www.abbath.net.