Review by Rexorcist for Immortal - Pure Holocaust (1993)

Immortal was my favorite black metal band for some time, seeing how riff heavy and atmospheric they can be.  And their classic Pure Holocaust is a fine example of their more wintery sounds.  They had some of that on their magnum opus, At the Heart of Winter, but this classic was a staple of the genre even before then.  It remained their best album for a few years, but how does it hold up now?  Well, this review's going to be short and simple like the album: there is constant speed, a pure vision of snowstorms plaguing every beautiful riff, and a presence that's difficult more many black metal bands to achieve.  Unfortunately, I find that this album is more simplistic in comparison not only to At the Heart of Winter (and dare I say it Damned in Black), but has a one track mind that, while hypnotic and metallic, gets old.  So while there are a lot of fun and great songs here, that's a major problem.  Immortal built themselves on the black metal atmosphere during the early days of its album popularity, and they were probably experts at that alone, so this stands out as a traditional black metal essential.  But compared to later efforts, it's become overshadows in creativity and will most easily satisfy those who are looking for more heaviness than boldness.