•
Rating: A deep wound, tormenting, inflicting excruciating pain, icy premonitions of damnation and solitude.
A "presence", reminiscent of ruthless ice deserts, ancient mountains eroded by sharp gusts, barren lifeless forests, and still souls lost in the memories of an untamable past, desolate wanderers with tattered clothes, whose gazes drown in the void of nostalgia.
Symphonies of barbaric terror, cursed screams, incomprehensible howls of unleashed beasts, shrieks like whispers of ghosts hooked by unbearable despair, souls dancing among the flakes of endless snowfalls, souls awaiting furious revenge. And such they are, represented by a single, thundering guttural sound, a deadly noise that uproots carefreeness, smiles, enveloping in an embrace of Viking rage, merciless, inhuman!
The Bergen duo composes the definitive black metal work, unleashes an animal born of the wind and the Norwegian night, ready to devour the ears of the unfortunate listeners, dragging them on a journey through shadows, among the statues of ruin, along paths of lands abandoned to total darkness. There is no hope, one feels alone, stunned by these furious, uncontrollably graceless gallops, sowing delirium and hidden fears. It is all generated by the murderous guitars of Demonaz, the rhythm section paired with the schizoid screaming of Abbath and sporadic keys that, in a couple of tracks, fuel the apocalyptic soul of this infernal brand named "Pure Holocaust."
No pause, no slowdown, the race is insane, dramatic and oozes an unspeakable ire making it very difficult to listen to this half-hour of screaming paganism. "A sign for the Norse hordes to ride" compresses with riffs that evoke horrible litanies, the singer roars alone, mad while the rhythm section leaves one stunned by its fury and ruggedness. "The sun no longer rises" lashes brutally before stretching into a venomous mid-tempo with a marble-like guitar sound, granitic, clinging to the emptiness generated by the infernal grunts. The false slowness of "Frozen by icewinds" barely loosens its grip, generates arctic visions of black solitude, unfolds in four minutes of howling wind among rocks of mountains as old as the world.
The pinnacle comes with the deadly notes of "As the eternity opens", an anthem marked by thundering drum beats, sad melodies filtered by a glacial riffing, a crazy fresco of sonic curse. And there is no respite with a tremendous finale, launched at the mad speed of the closing track "Pure Holocaust" where repetitive harmonies rise towards the void from the beast living in the demonically possessed throat of the singer.
Seven screeching hymns to the pagan fire that burns in the veins of these lords of darkness dominating the hills of Bergen during the endless winter full moon. This is black metal.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 The Sun No Longer Rises (04:19)
In the mist of the twilight
You could see me come
To walk the endless woods alone
The earth is freezing
As I walk it become colder
Forever descending in a place of the moon
Where shadows moves with grotesque eyes
Where demons rise
Surrounded by black and mourning moonfog
And the eyes of the dark ones
Sempiternal woods wait only for me
A path opens clearly
The sun no longer rises
Over cold and forgotten valleys
The sun no longer rises
Where I walk and where I come
I believe in tragedies
I believe in desecration
To the north and into eternal winters
To the north in the grip of eternal frost
04 Frozen by Icewinds (04:40)
a whispering cry
heard from a casket of stone
sorrow reap the windscreen
I am here all alone
shades of grey cast to the sky
in the deepest night
icewinds tears drips on my unbeloved soul
coven of black mist sing for me
ceremonial hymns of the purest blasphemy
at one with the earth
alone with light in my eyes
the ravens circle around my tomb
as I dream the night
frozen by icewinds
08 Pure Holocaust (05:16)
The mighty sound of damnation calls
As the holocaustsky draw near
Above the sorms over baeskade
Rule the power of the vrilla
It has come to ride the seven winters
With winds of war and winds of cold
Lightning strike the northland
Leading us into seasons of frost
Stand in the fog with so cold a heart
Watching the death of the sun
Valleys abound a thousand of coffins
The holocaust has just begun
It's the march of the blasphemous masses
Into damnation all will fall
Chapels of black unholy demons
Chanting the words of the funeral rites
Pure holocaust
Chanting the words of the funeral rites
Chapels of black unholy demons
Into damnation all will fall
Its the march of the blasphemous masses
The holocaust has just begun
Valleys about a thousands of coffins
Watching the death of a sun
Stand in the fog with so cold a heart
Loading comments slowly
