Immortal - Battles in the North (1995)

It's quite arguable which Immortal album is their finest as the band has changed a bit during their twenty years of existence. Some people prefer the more lo-fi somewhat raw sound of the debut, 'Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism' while others adore the raging blast beats of, 'Pure Holocaust' & 'Battles in the North,' but I suppose most howl for the far more melodic and slightly death metal version of Immortal, which has existed since 1997's, 'Blizzard Beasts,' perfected with, 'At the Heart of Winter' and continued onwards with, 'Damned in Black,' 'Sons of Northern Darkness' and 'All Shall Fall.' Personally Pure Holocaust and this monster of furious rapidly riotous uncompromising Norwegian black metal grimness known as Battles in the North is where its at.

Battle in the North continues where Pure Holocaust left off, although this time around the tempo is increased even further, the production is slightly less abysmal and Erik "Grim" Brødreskift wasn't credited for something he didn't perform. Olve "Abbath" Eikemo handles all stickwork as well as bass and vocal duties once again, while Harald "Demonaz" Nævdal performs all guitar work, thus making Immortal a duo. It was also around this time that Immortal more or less began their trademark of ridiculous promo photos, but then again they had pretty much already cursed themselves with their old promo video, 'The Call of the Wintermoon.'

Each song on this album is characterized by relentless blast beats over ice cold atmospherically distorted guitars, which in my opinion creates a wall of noise effect that is like being within a blizzard of chaos and confusion, but it all works very, very well. The drums are the most audible instrument on the album and in a way they overlap everything else, but with such raging disarray it gives the music such a commanding triumphant feeling that it absolutely demands the listener to play this album at obnoxiously loud volumes.

Nevertheless Demonaz's guitar work is immense and he truly outdoes himself here performing lighting fast work, which he nor anyone else has really come close to topping before, though many have tried. Abbath's voice is at its most froggy here as well and while I think his voice lost its edge down the road, here it sounds absolutely fantastic and works perfectly with the music. Likewise Demonaz's lyrics are at their finest here with various tales of grimness, winter, battle, demons and Blashyrkh (the bands fictional kingdom where all things cold and grim dwell).

The songs, all of which are stunning, are basically a constant barrage of blasting with very little time to react or even breath. Most of the songs begin and end abruptly somewhat making one wonder if something wasn't fully finished, though there are a few cleaner guitar parts and its really only during these brief moments that the listener is allowed to catch up. Fortunately the album runs for only thirty five minutes, which is the perfect length for music in this style.

It will always be arguable, but this is at least the high point in Immortal's early career and as such you absolutely owe it to yourself to get a copy. A friend of mine once said that with, 'Battles in the North, Immortal perfected the blast record.' He is correct.