Name: Battles In The North
Brand: Immortal

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

OPCD027

Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2023-10-13

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Orchard

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

4001617203323

Total Cap

OPCD0271

Alternative Artwork Edition

2024-06-21

3663663007198

9999

Artist

Immortal

Genre US

Metal

Label US

Osmose

<p>A black metal band from Bergen, Norway, Immortal was founded in August 1990 by Abbath Doom Occulta (Olve Eikemo) and Demonaz Doom Occulta (Harald Nævdal). After splitting up in 2003, the band reformed in 2006 and began performing live again in 2007. In December 2014, a legal feud over the rights to the Immortal name arose between Eikemo and Nævdal/Horghagen. As a result, Abbath announced that Immortal would be put on hold while he pursued his solo career using his own name. However, Demonaz and Horgh decided to continue as Immortal without him. Another legal dispute occurred in August 2020 between Demonaz and Horgh regarding the rights to the band's name. The Norwegian Patent Office ruled that the rights belong to the band as a whole.</p>

Battles in the North, Immortal's third razor-caked candy bar, is considered by many to be one of black metal's defining moments. Like its highly regarded, slower, and slightly less-focused predecessor, Pure Holocaust, Battles in the North is a furious, somewhat under-produced, unrelenting assault of blastbeats, demon-reptile vocals, and buzzing guitars assembled for one reason only: to unleash the misbegotten souls of frozen Norwegian landscapes into glorious battle against all things remotely commercial or accessible, taking no prisoners. The result is ten blurry tracks of hyper-tempo blackness that somehow corral melody within a constant rhythmic pummel, especially on bona fide classic cuts "Circling Above in Time Before Time" and "Blashyrkh (Mighty Ravendark)." Never before had such anti-production benefited an album's theme, the sometimes indiscernible wash of guitars and blasting drums invoking visions of whiteout blizzards, with only vocalist Abbath Doom Occulta's creepy croak — spewing startlingly effective and poetic English-as-a-second-language war imagery — able to permeate such dense instrumental storms. Oh, and the title track may just be the most devastating, skin-filleting shriek of black metal pain ever to emanate from Scandinavia's wintry clime. Snicker at their frowny-faced corpse-paint makeup if you must, but Immortal are all business, all metal, all the time, and undeniably so; if a demented grin creeps across the listener's face, it's more from the realization that these painted Norwegians are truly off their rockers, hopelessly devoted to their unwavering creation. Battles in the North is an album that sets Immortal apart from their black metal brethren, boasting a consistency of theme and an instrumental efficiency matched by few within the genre, never bowing to pretension (see Emperor's keyboard-ridden classical influences) or pointlessly kowtowing to the ridiculous mores of the "true black metal" underground (see Darkthrone's nigh-unlistenable, garage-tape-quality catalog). Immortal had invented their own frostbitten niche, devoting their mortal soul to metal, and after Battles in the North, there was no turning back.

Battles In The North

Music US

Discover Battles In The North by Immortal on Osmose label. Available in CD and LP formats. A defining black metal album with relentless blastbeats and chilling vocals.