Immortal - Battles in the North Review

 

Immortal - Battles in the North

Release Date - 5/15/95

Country of Origin - Norway

Number of Tracks - 10

Welcome all, to the first installment of Blackcember! The time of the month where we get closer to the holiday of Christmas. A time when we sing and dance and cheer. We stay with our families to be with our loved ones, and to carry on holiday traditions. And in the case of this humble reviewer, the time to break out the black metal!

When trying to decide what to review for the review before my special Christmas one, I actually knew what to do pretty early on. It's winter time, especially here down in Ohio. I needed something dark, powerful, gloom filled, yet cold. And what better band to review then the Norwegian gods known as Immortal? And what better album to review then they're 1995 classic Battles in the North.

Immortal as a whole have always been a cold band, making their music the perfect fit for the winter season. But honestly, Battles in the North to me is the best one to listen to, and not just because it has snow on the cover. It simply feels like winter. As I said, all of their music does, but this one to me at least has a more icy feel to it.

So enough bullshit, let's get into this puppy.

For up, we've got our tracks. The album features 10 tracks. Those tracks are:

1. Battles in the North

2. Grim and Frostbitten Kingdoms

3. Descent into Eminent Silence

4. Throned by Blackstorms

5. Moonrise Fields of Sorrow

6. Cursed Realms of the Winterdemons

7. At the Stormy Gates of Mist

8. Through the Halls of Eternity

9. Circling Above in Time Before Time

10. Blashrykh (Mighty Ravendark)

Our tracks here are quite different then the ones found on the previous albums. Whereas those talked of Satan, war, and the Holocaust, BITN is mostly a winter and ice worlds theme album. For some fans, this is a bit of a polarising aspect. On one hand, you still have the great music that Immortal was known, equipped with the great vocals, guitars, and drums. But on the other hand, it's a bit of a step away from the more traditional black metal roots, both in lyrical themes and in the music itself, but we'll get to that later.

The tracks don't really seem to transition well into one another. Now what I mean by that is the songs tend to just end very quickly, and start the next one right away. Now this isn't something un normal in music, especially in metal. But here, it's just done in what I consider a fairly sloppy away. For example, the first tracks (Battles in the North and Grim and Frostbitten Kingdoms) feel like they could have been one big track. The reason I say this is because Battles in the North ends mid riff, with Grim and Frostbitten Kingdoms starting up almost immediately after the riff ends, only to pick up on the same riff (or one that sounds very very similar) and even some of the same lyrics. Now some songs don't end and start like this to where they sound like a song broken into two. But almost all (if not all) basically end in a way that makes the song seem unfinished. To me at least, this is a pretty big thing. I like it when albums are arranged to where even if there's a pause between tracks, they seem to pick up one after another while being clearly finished. Here though, it just sounds sloppy, and as I said unfinished.

However, the way tracks start, end, and present with their themes isn't the only thing to talk about them. Oh no. After all, this is music. And of course that means music is needed to give these songs life. When it comes to music, I think Battles in the North is one of Immortal's best.

Starting with one of the three I mentioned earlier, the drums are present full force in this outing (not like they were ever missing or not audible). Like the previous albums (and like many Norwegian black metal songs) the drums are loud, heavy, and fast. The beat will assault your ears and pound itself into it's head. You could listen to this album and after a week still probably hear (and even tap your foot along) to the beat of them. Abbath provided the drums for the entire album, and he does a damn good job with them. Not much else to say other then the drumming kicks total ass.

Moving onto guitar land Abbath and Demonaz raise one ice cold storm. Like the drums are, the guitars present the same sound as the albums that predated it did. They're fast and furious and shriek through the stereo (or headphones) like a winter storm itself. The guitars do sound a bit similair in the riffs being produced, but it isn't too similar. With a bit of listening, one will easily be able to tell that the riffs being played are pretty different. This is something I like. I like how on the surface, they sound almost exactly the same, yet upon digging deeper, you'll see that there is indeed a difference, and one that one could say is pretty major. Like the drums, the guitars are wonderful here, and they're easily some of my favorites.

As always with black metal, the bass guitar kinda gets the shaft. Don't get me wrong, you can hear it and make it out with enough listening. And when you do finally find it, it's really good. But to be perfectly honest, it really isn't worth mentioning since as I said, it isn't all that audible. So, let's wrap up the individual music portion with the always great vocals.

If any one thing improved greatly (outside of the production) on this album, it's the vocals. Abbath pulled the vocals straight from Valhalla if you want my opinion (I assume you do if you're reading this). Abbath's vocals here are much much MUCH clearer then some of his work before the album. You can clearly hear him, and make out what he's saying. Demonaz does provide some vocals, but Abbath steals the show. He does a fantastic job here, his voice fitting the lyrical themes to a T. Hearing him sing on Blashyrkh is like a revelation. And to be fair, it's like that throughout most of the album. If you close your eyes when listening to the album, you can almost see and at times even feel the environment being spoken of in the songs. When a singer can put so much atmosphere and work into the vocals to where you can see the story, they did something fucking right. The vocals are the best things instrumentally on the album.

If you've been paying attention, I mentioned near the beginning of the album evaluation that the lyrics are a polarizing aspect of the album, with the music itself being another one. The reason for this is understandable from track one. The album's production is beyond gorgeous, and is definitely more polished then the last two recordings. Everything sounds crystal clear to where you can hear the vocals, guitars, and drums as clear as you can hear glass shattering. But I believe this is one of the polarizing aspects because black metal has always had this stigma to it of being completely and utterly raw. When people think of black metal, for the most part high end production isn't one of the things to come to mind immediately. So it is in my honest opinion that some fans don't really connect with this album due to the glossy editing job done. That's not to say it being highly produced is a bad thing, in fact it's a good thing. But I can see how some fans may not be into it.

To put it bluntly, Battles in the North is a great album, and it deserves to be placed highly both in the Immortal discography as well as the halls of black metal. But sometimes greatness doesn't come without it's negatives. This album is nowhere  near perfect. The tracks do not mesh well together when thinking in a straight forward manner. They at times sound unfinished or like a song broken in two just to fill out the track listing. And to be fair, some of the songs themselves aren't that great. The album does contain gems such as the title track, Descent into Eminent Silence, and my personal favorite Through the Halls of Eternity. But at the same time, it contains some tracks that don't live up to the goodness (or greatness of Through the Halls in my opinion) of the rest. Even when comparing the title track and Descent against some of the bands other songs they don't held up. That doesn't mean it's bad that they're well liked and are popular, it just means that they're good but not as good.

The music though is the best part. Even if some of the songs don't work, and the track flow is horrendous, the music is the saving grace. The album contains some of my favorite riffs, drumming, and vocals. It's easily my favorite Immortal album just for how fast it gives me a surge of furious power. I may have my problems with it, but I won't let them make me enjoy the album any less. A person can like something such as a movie, see that it has flaws, yet still like it. It's only natural. And that's the case here.

In conclusion, Battles in the North is a good album. It packs the cold, shivers down your spine feel that one can always enjoy from black metal, and as I stated at the beginning of this review, is one of the best albums to listen to metal wise come the winter season. If the track flow was better, and some of the songs were more polished, I'd say we have a gurranteed near perfect album and contender for best Immortal album. But that's not the case. It's a good but flawed album. But as long as you can look past the flaws and enjoy it, it's a fun listen.

B