ABBATH's set at the SaariHelvetti festival in Tampere, Finland on Friday, August 14 lasted roughly two minutes.
Footage from the show has the band opening with "To War!" — and Abbath, born Olve Eikemo, standing among bandmates in full corpsepaint and body armour while wearing neither. About halfway through the song he throws his guitar down onto the stage and walks off.
According to Inferno magazine, Finnish drummer Ukri Suvilehto then went to the front of the stage to address the audience directly. "Let's just say that it probably won't come as a surprise to anyone that our lead singer is struggling with health problems, so we're very sorry if this gig has been interrupted," he reportedly said. "But we, as solid professionals, are prepared for anything, so we'll see. But thank you and sorry. We have done everything we can."
The organisers later confirmed the same reason, stating the performance ended unexpectedly because the frontman "was unable to perform due to singer Abbath Doom Occulta's health problems." The booking had been announced back in March.
The phrasing about it not surprising anyone carries weight, because there is precedent. In November 2019, ABBATH played a two-song show in Buenos Aires that ended with fans requesting refunds. The lineup that night was a visibly inebriated Abbath alongside then-bassist Mia Wallace and Suvilehto — the same drummer now apologising in Tampere — after rumours that guitarist Ole André Farstad had argued with the frontman and stayed at the hotel.
Later that month Abbath issued a statement acknowledging that he had been battling addiction and committing to a rehab programme that would help him "get clean once and for all."
ABBATH have spent the last several years touring behind "Dread Reaver", released in March 2022 via Season Of Mist — the third album under the name Abbath launched after his 2015 departure from IMMORTAL, the Norwegian band he fronted through the records that shaped a substantial share of what the outside world hears as black metal.
No further statement has come from the band or from Abbath himself, and no word has been given on whether remaining dates are affected.
Source: blabbermouth.net