I have not been much impressed with Abbath's solo career since he was fired from/quit Immortal. Both the self-titled debut and the well-received Outstrider in 2019 were albums I found just bland and kind of silly, with bouncy rhythms and weak production. Abbath seemed to be going down the Darkthrone path of playing music without any layers, which just made the albums sound thin and uninteresting to me.

I say this by way of admitting that Dread Reaver is fucking killer. The production on this is cranked up to a blistering level of heaviness, with a chaotic mix that makes this sound way more inimical and underground than Abbath's songwriting alone can account for. There are still parts of this I find too melodic, and the clean vocals are pretty terrible, but overall this album just jams the pedal to the metal and keeps it there. This is an Abbath album that's finally not afraid to sound like Immortal, and with the actual Immortal in limbo that's a welcome change.