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Close your eyes. I know it’s hard, this being Immortal and all. But put away your punchlines; we’ve heard them before. Just listen. This is music. One doesn’t need eyes for it.
Open your ears. What do you hear? A winter wind and an acoustic guitar. Then, the best goddamn racket you ever did hear.
Who let these guys in the studio? “So, boys, I hear you don’t play death metal anymore”. “Yes, I have a reverb unit”. “What’s that?” “Yes, I have a tuner for your guitar”.
File this under “awesome debuts that sounded nothing like what followed”; see also Sodom, Destruction, Darkthrone. Fingers are twitchy, hairdos are triumphant, and virgin balls are engorged with half-formed being.
This is key. Just a year later, Pure Holocaust sounds like a real band. The riffs are crisp, the songs are tight, and boy can these fuckers play. Sharpen and repeat, again and again. How do I get to Wacken’s main stage? Practice, practice, practice!
Not yet for these tenderfeet. These guys are strictly plug-in-and-play. Will the drummer make it to the end of the fill? Why is that solo there? Did they forget to use that tuner? Say again? I can’t hear you; I’m in a reverb unit right now.
But therein lies the magick. The band doesn’t really know where these songs will go. And we sure as hell don’t. This record is a question, not an answer; a journey, not a destination. We aren’t winning battles in the north yet. No, “a foggy fullmoon night into darkness ride”.
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Immortal – Fullmoon Diabolical Mysticism
Full album stream
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What does darkness bring? Not catchy choruses and expensive hoodies. We get shambolic shuffles, scribbly solos, and brief flashes of fire, lit on oversized pots of reverb. Abbath’s croak isn’t in effect yet. For now, we have a hungry ghost that screeches and growls. If Frank Zappa’s guitar wants to kill your mama, this drum kit wants to kill your little brother. It’s skinny and frustrated. I bet that’s what Satan looks like. Not some huge reddish dude, but some basement dweller pissed at his house band, Slayer, for slacking on the job.
So we’re far, far away from Manowar. No muscles on these waifs! Thank dog for the Norwegian welfare system – see this interview circa 1993, which reveals “no jobs!” for Abbath – for letting these kids play in the forest. They are onto something. Maybe a guitar isn’t just a machine that extrudes riffs. Maybe it’s a crude spear, an ad hoc torch, or a cloud of fog. Maybe a band isn’t just guys in a room looking for power outlets. Maybe it’s a rear guard as one goes down unlit paths. Maybe it’s an extra sword or two to face the unknown.
And maybe it’s kindred spirits to divide the spoils of the hunt. Those synths sweeping through “A Perfect Vision of the Rising Northland” are raised chalices. Small-time scribblings try to keep the dream going, but to no avail. We wake up where we started, next to an acoustic guitar. Thankfully, this dream keeps recurring. That’s why they call it Immortal.
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BUY DIABOLICAL FULLMOON MYSTICISM
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More reviews like this!
Agreed.
My fave by them. Also has their best cover art, too.
Great piece! It took me a long time to appreciate this album as much as it deserves. Now it is one of my favourites by them, and certainly my favourite album from the deep pit of the early ’90s. It is a strange, unsettling album. “Cryptic Winterstorms” is probably my favourite track — the acoustic guitar intro and overlay, combined with a simple but odd riff, all come together to form a song that almost plods but holds onto this black, compelling power.
Yeah it seems a record that never truly reveals itself; there’s always something new to focus on, to be steered towards. Nowhere near as instant as Pure Holocuast or Battles; both preferred records for me.
It’s important to remember that Immortal were also forging the 90’s Norse BM blueprint at this time. Darkthrone may have struck first, but Immortal’s mark was wholly their own. While I don’t care for anything they released post Blizzard Beasts, their unbridled conviction and complete lack of irony really made for something special.
Great post. Hard to believe Immortal has been around this long…
This record perfectly captures that nascent early ’90s black metal ‘thing’. No one knew where it was going, and hardly anyone knew how to write songs, so they just did their thing and the results were fascinating.
Kinda sad that this and the King Diamond articles get barely any attention, but if one brings up the words “women in metal” it’s a 100+ thread.
I think it’s more that the greatness of these albums is hard to argue with.
Agreed. Great post!
I reckon this album cops flak for having produced the “Call of the Wintermoon” video (which I don’t mind at all).
If I were in charge of Guitar World’s top 100 solos of all time, I would make deathly sure to put “A Perfect Vision of Rising Nordland” somewhere low in the list. That middle break with the acoustic followed by the keyboard bit followed by one of the most fantastically melodic solos this side of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford. DFM is a damn good album. Sure it pales in comparison to most of what came after, but it’s still excellent.