I realize that it's customary for my first few reports of each season to be "pre-black metal" posts. Prologues, if you will. Beginning the winter season with bands that predate the style, but were astoundingly important to its development (Bathory and Celtic Frost are the two most significant examples).

However, I got a late start this year. I even let the first real snowfall in Michigan come and go without a BMR...to my eternal shame. But, this evening... the snow has come again. So you know what THAT means... we are visiting the first album by the only band that can TRULY be described as "snow metal," the band that embodies the Black Metal Report like no other....

The country of origin is Norway. The year is 1992. The band is the one and only Immortal, and the debut album is "Diabolical Fullmoon Mysticism".

Abbath and Demonaz would require one more go in the studio before truly starting to embrace greatness, but this was still a considerably-above-average entry in the classic Scandinavian onslaught. Recorded in Grieghallen by Pytten, it's a proud companion to Enslaved's "Frost", Emperor's "In the Nightside Eclipse", and Mayhem's "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas". From the opening winds and acoustic guitar of 'The Call of the Wintermoon' to the "to be continued" feel of the conclusion of 'A Perfect Vision of the Rising Northland', Immortal was just beginning to open the door to their vast 'n' epic universe of ice, isolation, battles, snow, storms, glaciers, darkness, and the heart of winter.

BMR Prologue Part II: A Glossary

As veteran readers already know, there are a number of different permutations of the Black Metal Report, the names of which appear as variations of the BMR acronym. These include...

BMV: Black Metal Visual. These can be anything in visual form, from pictures to official music videos to concert DVDs. 

BMW/R: Black Metal Walk/Run. I try to maintain my regimen of walking and running in the winter, when I can. These posts obviously report what music is my soundtrack to such outings.

BMC: Black Metal Cinema. There are several films out there that fit the black metal aesthetic, whether it be in subject matter or mood. (Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and John Carpenter's The Thing are two of the most obvious examples.)

LBMR: Live Black Metal Report. Self-explanatory. Reports about black metal concert experiences.

PBMR: Pseudo-Black Metal Report. The most interesting variation, I think. This column has to do with music that, while not black metal (or even necessarily metal at all, OR rock, for that matter), still fits the cold/bleak/wintry mold. Favorite artists along these lines (that are otherwise miles removed from the BM genre) include Tangerine Dream, George Winston and Klaus Schulze. 

BMRTBT: Duh.

BMIM: Black Metal In Memoriam. The latest permutation, initially coined by the passing of Martin Eric Ain from the legendary Celtic Frost.

Jeffrey

Previous BMR can be found here.