IMMORTAL — Pure Holocaust (review)

IMMORTAL — Pure Holocaust album cover Album · 1993 · Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Warthur
Don't worry guys, this isn't Immortal's NSBM record - the album title refers to the media response to Immortal's emergence with their debut album, which was referred to by one critic as "holocaust music".

Though Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism was a pretty decent album, the band faced a lot of scoffing and dismissal, not least because of the rather silly video for Call of the Wintermoon. Pure Holocaust comes across as an album by a band who went into the studio with something to prove - and by golly did they prove it. Immortal polish the production rather than going the lo-fi route, which allows them to highlight the increase in their musicianship since the previous release, and the tighter production and performance is accompanied by better compositions to create a muscular, catchy, and immensely entertaining collection of black metal anthems.

Is it still goofy? Of course it is - Impaled Northern Moonforest didn't use the Immortal playbook to name all their songs for nothing. But I for one am glad that we have a black metal band whose lyrics aren't based around hate or being tr00 or kvlt or exclusionary, but simple escapism which anyone can enjoy - and I'm even more glad that it's a band of the calibre of Immortal.
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