IMMORTAL — Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism (review)

IMMORTAL — Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism album cover

Album · 1992 · Black Metal

3.5/5 · 2010-11-08
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I believe that a band’s first full length is the first step that will make or break them. From what I can hear from this I can certainly tell how Immortal have become one of the most respected names in the black metal genre. It’s not quite into the range of a classic album but it is extremely solid material on offer and it is certainly a superior debut album that showcases a young band with much to offer their listeners.

The one major problem for me here is that they started it with one of these intro type tracks, something I nearly always fail to see the point in. Luckily for Immortal that this is one of the few cases where the intro track does actually work, however it could have just as easily been a part of the intro for the first proper song, The Call of the Wintermoon. Basically it’s faulted but not outright terrible, or an overly pointless addition to the track listing.

Speaking of The Call of the Wintermoon it’s probably the one that newcomers may have heard before since it’s one of the few Immortal songs that has a, albeit rather awful, music video. But in all honesty it’s actually the weakest of the album’s songs in my opinion. So if you’ve heard this one and liked it then this album is a very safe purchase. Of course even though I think it’s the weakest track, it's not exactly what I'd call bad. So don’t let that weak word put you off at all. Yes, the guitar riffs are not the best that Demonaz or Abbath have ever played and yes, Abbath can, and does do better vocals on Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism than on this song and rather annoyingly it is a song that doesn’t vary all that often, so it’s long drawn out intro (note I’m talking about The Call of the Wintermoon as a track, not the actual intro track) gets somewhat boring. It’s a case of quantity over quality for the most part, but fortunately the rest of this album is a much stronger affair.

What makes the album really exceptional is that I actually think it’s one of those albums worth owning just for a select track or two. These two songs being Cryptic Winterstorms and A Perfect Vision of the Rising Northland. Both sound dark and evil but mixed with some acoustics that adds a depth of variety to the raw black metal sound produced elsewhere. While longer than The Call of the Wintermoon, A Perfect Vision of the Rising Northland does the complete opposite and gives at least double the quality for it’s nine minute length. Both tracks are classics of the band.

The other tracks are good, each stronger than The Call of the Wintermoon but not up to the standard of the ones mentioned above. Unholy Forces of Evil is a particular best of the rest, although you can’t go far wrong with Blacker Than Darkness or Cold Winds of Funeral Dust either.

As players Immortal are good even if they are not the best that the genre has to offer and as a songwriter Demonaz in particular deservedly gets a special mention here as throughout the album his lyrics are really good and fitting to the genre of metal that his band plays. As a lead guitarist his solos are not overly fast but instead he makes them fit the mood of the song and it’s this factor of his writing/playing that really saves The Call of the Wintermoon from falling into mediocre territory. Abbath is a decent enough bass player (I personal think he has more to offer as a guitarist however (for those not aware, he switched instrument when Demonaz was forced to withdraw from being Immortal's guitarist) - no disrespect to Demonaz intended) and vocalist, although he would improve greatly by the time the second album, Pure Holocaust would be released. The drumming of Armagedda is talented although not a patch on Immortal’s latter drummer, Horgh.

A special mention to the production of Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism. While it is a part of black metal for production to not be as good as in other genres of metal, Immortal have had the sense not to sound so raw that the music suffers for it, and at the same time have managed to make it sound raw enough for the spirit of black metal to be alive and well within Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism. Yes it is much more accessible than other black metal debut albums like Darkthrone’s A Blaze in the Northern Sky or Mayhem’s De Mysteriis Dom Sathans but it isn’t a total departure from the sound of such bands that are dubbed ‘the sound of true black metal’ by many fans. They’ve had the guts to be different, and not just because of that fact. Each album from here onwards would showcase a different sound, meaning that they’ve never made this, or any other albums they’ve done twice. So in summary if you want a black metal band that has tons of variety, Immortal is that band and this is a great album to start with, but there are better releases to hear.