ABBATH – New Signing – April 23, 2015

Season of Mist are proud to announce the signing of ABBATH! Having recently departed from IMMORTAL to form a new band under his own name, the iconic Norwegian black metal legend is currently working on his debut album for Season of Mist, which is expected to be ready early 2016. Abbath is also revealing his new line-up and live dates below.

Bass duties will be 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 sticksman Baard Kolstad will also join ABBATH on drums.

Regarding this signing Michael Berberian personally commented: “My first black metal concert ever was IMMORTAL, ROTTING CHRIST, and BLASPHEMY in Paris, 1993”, Season of Mist CEO states. “Black metal was then, and still is, defining my musical taste. This concert was life changing and one of the events that eventually sparked the birth of Season of Mist. Fast-forward 22 years from that concert to this moment in time. ROTTING CHRIST have been with us for years, and now ABBATH joins us too! I’m presenting this signing with a pure adrenaline high and childlike amazement. On top of this, Abbath is one of a kind, a genuine character. I have known Tom aka King for years, and Baard is a phenomenon – one of a kind in any generation of drummers. I have no doubt that this line-up will surpass anything that Abbath did in the past. This band has just the right chemistry, the ambition and the vision to excel.”

Speakers of German can read a world exclusive interview with Abbath about his split from IMMORTAL and his founding of ABBATH in the May issue of the German Metal Hammer. For readers of English, Metal Hammer UK will have an exclusive feature on ABBATH in their next issue, out on April 28th.

Having already announced that “new songs have been honed, ready to sit alongside classic Immortal material and rarely – if ever – played gems”, Abbath and his band will make their world debut at Tuska Metal Festival stage headlining on Saturday 27th June 2015, alongside ALICE COOPER, IN FLAMES, and OPETH among others. This will be followed by more headline events. For a full list of currently confirmed ABBATH shows see below:

27th of June 2015: Tuska Metal Festival, Finland
4th of September 2015: Meh Suff Metal Festival, Switzerland
5th of September 2015: Fall of Summer, France
18th September 2015: The Forum, London, UK
20th February 2016: Blastfest, Norway

Line-up
Abbath: guitar & vocals
Tom Cato “King of Hell” Visnes: bass
Baard Kolstad: drums

ABBATH on Facebook
ABBATH homepage