Review by Rexorcist for Immortal - At the Heart of Winter (1999)

Traditional black metal, founded by Mayhem, has been a staple of Norwegian music since its inception, and along with it will always be the bands associated with the early scene.  Even though Mayhem fell out of favor once their frontman Euronymous was murdered by Burzum, and Emperor called it quits, Immortal has still been going strong, and their most classic album remains a contender by many to be the greatest black metal album in the world: At the Heart of Winter.  This album did so much for the traditional black metal sound that it has many emulators, and is more accessible like Death's Symbolic, so it makes it good entry for new black metal explorers.  It was mine.

At the Heart of Winter immediately lets you know that it's an "epic" album, telling a fantasy tale through rhyme and riff.  So even though it behaves like a metal opera occasionally, it has none of the symphony of genres more associated with it, handling itself like a concept album about a place build for metal operas.  The album has no trouble drawing the listener away into the world of Blashyrkh, using clear vocals to immediately suck you into the gothic poetry.  The album's riffs keep coming and coming, and usually the album finds something new to give you but handles all the riffs in somewhat progressive manners.

Unfortunately, its run of tracks 2-4 are pretty much going for the same sound, and the longest of these three, track 3, is the least imaginitive.  So its awesome sound draws out a little bit before it gives you a few new ideas in between its two final tracks, which help justify the album again.

This is Immortal at their best.  They're a black metal band for hard rock fans, and their straightforward sound is almost mastered here.  A the Heart of Winter is the first album I'd recommend any newcomer to black metal (unless they're experimental fans, in which case it would be something else).