Review by Xephyr for Immortal - Pure Holocaust (1993)

Vantablack

Pure Holocaust might be the most "Black Metal" Black Metal album I've ever heard, in both the best and not so great of ways. The early and mid 1900's saw the Black Metal genre explode with so many albums that are now considered classics, with their prominent features ranging from chilling and raw lo-fi riffing to epic and symphonic endeavors. Immortal doesn't dare journey down the symphonic route, but Pure Holocaust rises above the average lo-fi affair that was so common during that time by just doing all of the Black Metal stuff right.

Everything you could ever want out of an early 90's chilling and occult album is here with substantial density, whether its the faded and bone chilling guitar tone, the frantically impressive drumming, or the ravaged sounding vocals. The layering and use of these elements is phenomenal, with the lead and rhythm guitar being most prominent above the insane drumming and slightly pushed back vocals, but Immortal's sound is impressively crystal clear and large sounding as they shred through riff after riff. There are a ton of impressive melodies in Pure Holocaust that shine through thanks to their layered guitar approach, with one guitar shredding away with tremolo in the background as the other carries a chord progression or melody. While melody may be a sacrilegious term for early Black Metal fans, the amazing riffs in "Unsilent Storms in the North Abyss" and "The Sun No Longer Rises" don't lie. Behind all these riffs the drums pound away, with Abbath, one half of the duo that made up Immortal at the time, delivering a truly blistering performance through the entire album. The slower melodies played by the lead guitar get drug along by the chaos of the drumming, giving the album a heavy and sinister Black Metal atmosphere. A few of the tracks pump the breaks on the drumming enough to offer some variety, like the hefty, double bass filled 4/4 rhythms in "Frozen By Icewinds" and the second half of "As The Eternity Opens". The vocals are extremely accessible too, especially for Black Metal this heavy. They have a nice erratic and unhinged quality to them that feels right at home among the blast beats from the drums and the constant tremolo from the guitar. They're also a bit more clear and less vile than other Black Metal vocalists, which I for one appreciate as a nice change of pace. 

Overall, Pure Holocaust exhibits all the things that make Black Metal a great genre in a raw but clear form. On the other side of the coin, it takes almost zero risks and can be pretty run of the mill when directly comparing it to the competition since it lacks some of the energy and pure chaos that other albums released at the time have. There are so many qualities that are so well done about it, but nothing is particularly earth-shattering or stunning to me. It's just a really, really good Black Metal album in all the ways I expect a Black Metal album to be. Hell, it's even memorably catchy at some points, with the finale of "The Sun No Longer Rises" and the insanely killer riff of "Pure Holocaust" getting stuck in my head for the entire time I've been writing this review. Pure Holocaust does the best job I've heard of encapsulating a genre, with all of the elements represented in clear and interesting, but safe, ways. If anyone ever wants to know what old Black Metal sounded like, I'll be pointing them straight to Immortal.