Pure Holocaust [Import]

Immortal | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 29, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Osmose Productions
• ASIN: B00002644Z
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,865 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

IMMORTAL PURE HOLOCAUST

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pure holocaust it is....., December 5, 2003

By 

M. T. Chelmowski (Netherlands) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pure Holocaust (Audio CD)

Immortal's sophomore full-length release 'Pure Holocaust' is considered to be the defining moment of the band. And not without good reason. The record sheds the atmospheric interludes still present on the previous record and goes out to battle with a dark and relentless call to arms. The Death Metal influence now shed, we are treated to a barrage of wicked blast beats by the band's new skin beater Erik (of later Borknagar fame) who sadly committed suicide a few years back. The slow structured riffs are replaced by the haunting, angry wails of the guitars. The classic Immortal sound is born...
This album is supremely cold and dark yet manages to avoid the often cartoonesque satanic imagery employed by bands like Dark Funeral. It makes you want to stand up and fight and unleash hell on everyone and everything in your path. An absolute highlight to me is the second track: 'A Sign For The Norse Hordes To Ride'. The hypnotic guitar theme combined with Abbath's relentless call to arms manages to spike to your imagination and produce images of fierce warriors battling for supremacy on the cold wintry plains. The interesting thing about this record is that it manages to achieve all this with relatively simple tools and relies purely on the skilled delivery of the band members and their permeating earnestness instead of supposedly 'evil' interludes and atmospheric keyboards. For this fact alone 'Pure Holocaust' stands on lonely heights alongside albums such as 'De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas' or 'Transilvanian Hunger'.

Yet again the production is great. It manages to avoid the poor garage quality of some Black Metal records without sounding overproduced. I believe that raw, garage production has its place but I am convinced that this record benefits greatly from the added clarity and edge and in doing so manages to sound colder than it would have otherwise.

If I can name one possible gripe that I have with this record it would be the fact that I wish the band let someone look over their lyrics before recording the album. Occasionally it comes across as if though they seem to enjoy using complex sentence structures and words without proper command of the language. On the other hand this gives the record a bit of added charm and is not really a major negative. To me this is THE Immortal record (although many would disagree and bestow that honor on 'Battles In The North').

This record will make the coffee freeze in your cup and make you wish you didn't throw away that wool sweater your mother gave you last Christmas. Any fan of cold and raw Black Metal really should have at the very least heard this record.

10/10

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Immortal breaks ahead of the pack, July 19, 2005

By 

M. Ness "Death Be Not Proud" (Vancouver, Canada) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pure Holocaust (Audio CD)

Pure Holocaust picks up where Diabolical Full Moon Mysticism leaves off and turns it up a couple notches. This CD absolutely grips you and refuses to let go. From the opening chords of "Unsilent Storms in the North Abyss" to the closing notes of the eponymous song "Pure Holocaust" you know something special is happening. This is definitely my favorite of the "old Immortal" CD's. (I consider At the Heart of Winter and beyond "new Immortal" as the songs are better produced and much more technical. At heart (haha...) I am usually more inclined to enjoy a better produced CD over "raw" material, but I make an exception here. This CD is just absolutely amazing. It's unfortunate that it is rarely found in stores, as this is a CD any metal fan, black in particular, should listen to. When I found my copy at a local underground metal store, I was ecstatic.

The guitar is cleaner, the drums (handled by Abbath on this record, in addition to bass and vocals) are more discernable and the general sound has improved from their last effort. The songs remain simple yet majestic, pulling you into their world and allowing you to feel their emotions. The raw, unhidden emotion of these songs forces you to put your overt self on hold and just indulge in the life of a Norseman in "Blashyrkh," the imaginary world constructed by Immortal full of Blizzard Beasts and vast sweeping snowstorms.

The appeal of this CD, as well as all other Immortal CD's, is that they don't follow the clichéd model of black metals "war against Christianity." I am fine with people having their own beliefs, but a certain amount of respect should be given to people who do not share the same beliefs as you. I myself am "undecided" and am neither pro or con religion, but I still show respect to those who truly believe. Quoted by Abbath in a more recent interview, he states "We don't believe in god. We have our own beliefs, but we still respect the beliefs of others." This adds yet another dimension to this phenomenal band, as it can play black and death metal without conveying a feeling of "F*ck Christ! Burn the churches! Kill all those Christian c*nts!" which is shared by many metal bands, black and otherwise.

In short, this album is absolutely necessary for a fan of the black metal genre. Many people consider this Immortal's best work, and they would definitely have an argument. Hell, many people consider this one of the most epic black metal CD's ever created. Buy it, download it, steal it from your scary Satan worshipping neighbor; whatever you do, get this CD.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One Day, A Vengance Will Rain Down ..., November 29, 2005

By 

B. Lynch "the_onewhoknows" (USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Pure Holocaust (Audio CD)

Pure Holocaust is a quantum leap improvement over Diabolical Full Moon Mysticism (Immortal's previous album). Mainly, its a function of better production skills and engineering that sharpens up the recordings. Pure Holocaust sounds raw and brutal as a result.

Most inexperienced metal bands forget that high-volume live performances are severely reduced on LP's or CD's, where the typical playback system can't reproduce anything approaching live-music volume. The results are a thin-buzz guitars, hollow-thud drumming, and a loose muddy bass sound. Here, ther is better separation of guitar, bass, vocals and drums than on prior recordings, making 'Pure Holocaust' sound less like amplified distortion and more like music.

While this album doesn't have the garage-demo quality that marred most 1990's Black & Death metal, it still failed to capture the intensity and power of Immortal's live preformances. NOTE: The LP version of 'Pure Holocaust' has much better ambient playback sound than does the CD. The CD mix is too tinny and thin--especially the guitar parts. That's why I give it 4 stars instead of 5.

There are 3 people on the cover, but the actual drumming on this LP was done by 'Abbath' (Immortal's bassist/vocalist). Drummer Matt Grim was hired ust in time for the cover-photo-sessions it seems. The guitars were played --as always-- by Demonaz.

This is BLACK METAL (explicitly anti-religious, and self-glorifying) in full fury and intensity. Unlike DEATH METAL, which focuses on how life is hopeless and the world is against you), this starts with a premise of 'f*ck all that: I'm making my own rules here...'. Unlike the posers, who lapse into 'burn the churches', 'kill a priest', 'F*ck jesus', 'I hate Christians', and other cliches, this is an assertion of Nordic pride: A Satanic proclamation that Chrisitanity is the despicable religion of Roman slaves; unfit for real men and people of honor.

The music:
"Unsilent Storms in the North Abyss" (first song) is a black metal assault: furious, angry, and full of foreboding. And most songs here maintain or extend that mood. But there are occasional extras: the keyboard opening for "As the Eternity Opens", for example. There are plenty of pounding drum rhythms (not just beat-and-bang like a RAP album has), and furious bass riffs that accompany. The closer, "Pure Holocaust" would make a great soundtrack ending for an earth-is-being-destroyed movie. Occasional ambient touches hint at later experimentation (mainly on 'Battles in The North' -- IMMORTAL's next album). They also hold attantion on 'Pure Holocaust', long enough to make you want to hear all of the songs. That has become a big problem for most black-metal and death-metal bands: sales are negligible because the music is not interesting, and 'it all sounds the same'. "The Sun No Longer Rises" uses the long arctic nights as a metaphor for the destruction of (a superior) Nordic culture by (an inferior) Christian culture.

The title cut extends on a theme that became associated with eugenics and racism, but which is a core concept in black metal and Satanism: that right triumphs over wrong when superior people decide to displace and obliterate their inferiors -- especially if those people are in positions of authority. This proved problematic, since 'The Holocaust' is associated with Nazism, and many people wrongly assumed that IMMORTAL was praising Nazi Germany. Fact: IMMORTAL never was in any way associated with neo-Nazi groups.

In what proved to be a marketing disaster, the band's stage-makeup appeared a lot like that of KISS, and American efforts to promote the band portrayed them as "Norway's KISS". KISS is a party-rock band, and the marketing went completely awry--totally off target-- and failed completely. IMMORTAL thus became a casualty of the brainless record company A&R staffs, dimwitted radio Program Directors, and know-nothing tour management companies.

While 'Pure Holocaust' is not explicity built around the fictional land of 'Blashyrkh' (Mighty Raven Dark) it does hint at that theme (which dominated 'Battles in The North). The themes in Pure Holocaust have been echoed recently by KREATOR, on their 'Violent Revolution' and 'Enemy of God' albums. But unlike Immortal, KREATOR seems content to stick with the empty sloganeering common to demonologists, rather than engage in overt expressions of Satanic ideas.

Many fans consider 'Pure Holocaust' to be the best Black Metal since Venom. Immortal's approach and sound are very different from those of the early black metal bands: here, Satanic ideas are directed toward explicity earth-bound applications. Well worth picking up, new or used. Personally, I recommend the LP's for better playback sound, if you have a good turntable, a "Hi-Fi" stereo, and great speakers.