A Blaze in the Northern Sky

A Blaze in the Northern Sky is the second studio album by Norwegian black metal band Darkthrone. It was released on 26 February 1992 by Peaceville Records. It contained the band's first black metal recordings,[2] and is considered a classic within the genre. It was the first album of what fans dub the "Unholy Trinity", the other albums being Under a Funeral Moon and Transilvanian Hunger.[3][4] It was the last album to feature bassist Dag Nilsen.

A Blaze in the Northern Sky
Studio album by Darkthrone
Released	26 February 1992
Recorded	August 1991
Studio	Creative Studios in Kolbotn, Norway
Genre	Black metal, death metal[1]
Length	42:02
Label	Peaceville
Producer	Darkthrone
Darkthrone chronology
Soulside Journey (1991) A Blaze in the Northern Sky (1992) Under a Funeral Moon (1993)

Background

Darkthrone's first album, 1991's Soulside Journey, was a Swedish-styled death metal release. After recording Soulside Journey, the band began writing songs with more black metal traits. This yielded the instrumental demo Goatlord.

After recording Goatlord, three of the band members—Fenriz, Nocturno Culto and Zephyrous—decided that they wanted to focus on making black metal music. Bassist Nilsen disliked this shift in direction, and quit the band. However, he agreed to record his bass parts for the album as a session member. A Blaze in the Northern Sky was recorded during August 1991 at Creative Studios in Kolbotn; the same studio where Mayhem recorded their influential Deathcrush EP. In an interview, Fenriz said that the album was somewhat "rushed" and that many of the songs have "death metal guitar riffs" played in a "black metal style".[5]

Due to Darkthrone's sudden change from death metal to black metal, Peaceville was unwilling to release the album as it was. The shocked record label had expected that the band would continue recording death metal in the vein of Soulside Journey. Peaceville agreed to release the album only if they were able to remix it, stating that the sound was "too weak". The band then threatened to release it through Deathlike Silence Productions, the record label owned by Øystein "Euronymous" Aarseth of Mayhem (to whom the album is dedicated).[5] However, Peaceville eventually agreed to release the album as it was recorded.

Release

The album was released by Peaceville on 26 February 1992. The first CD pressing was limited to 2,000 copies and had a white disc. The front cover featured Ivar Enger (Zephyrous), the band's rhythm guitarist.

It was remastered and reissued by Peaceville in 2003, as well as being repackaged in a cardboard digipak. The second chapter of a four-part video interview (spanning the first four albums) with Fenriz and Nocturno was also included. A Blaze was reissued again by Peaceville in December 2009 as a double gatefold LP on 180 gram vinyl, limited to 2,000 copies.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
Pitchfork	9.2/10[6]
Sputnikmusic	[7]

In his retrospective review of the album, Eduardo Rivadavia from AllMusic gave A Blaze 5 out of 5 stars, calling it "a classic whose almost indefensibly lo-fi standards would reinvigorate an entire strain of black metal".[2] Valefor from Metal Reviews wrote that it "would come to epitomize True Black Metal [...] raw production, simple riffs, no color on their album covers... just pure frozen evil."[8] Channing Freeman of Sputnikmusic called the album "triumphant," with a balanced blend of "frozen production and guttural screams" and "a sense of community".[7]

In 2009, IGN included A Blaze in the Northern Sky in their "10 Great Black Metal Albums" list,[9] while a 2007 article in Decibel magazine called it "the first truly blackened death metal album".[10] Kerrang! called it " a dark watershed for the black metal genre" and the song In the Shadow of the Horns as "seven minutes of defiant lo-fi production, frostbitten purpose and blunt-force simplicity".[11]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Kathaarian Life Code"	10:39
2.	"In the Shadow of the Horns"	7:01
3.	"Paragon Belial"	5:24
4.	"Where Cold Winds Blow"	7:26
5.	"A Blaze in the Northern Sky"	4:57
6.	"The Pagan Winter"	6:35
Total length:		42:02

Personnel

Darkthrone

• Nocturno Culto – lead guitar, vocals
• Zephyrous – rhythm guitar
• Fenriz – drums, backing vocals

Additional musicians

• Dag Nilsen – bass guitar

Production

• Dave Pybus – album cover design

References

1. https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/interviews/darkthrone_sound_had_people_fooled_they_took_it_as_black_metal_album.html
2. Rivadavia, Eduardo. "A Blaze in the Northern Sky - Darkthrone". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 August 2012.
3. Eduardo Rivadavia: Under a Funeral Moon - Darkthrone.
4. James Montague: Darkthrone - The Cult Is Alive.
5. A Blaze in the Northern Sky (video interview). 2003.
6. Sodomsky, Sam (22 September 2019). "Darkthrone: A Blaze in the Northern Sky". Pitchfork. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
7. Freeman, Channing (18 January 2013). "Album Review - Darkthrone: A Blaze in the Northern Sky". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 22 January 2013.
8. Valefor: Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
9. Ramirez, Carlos (6 January 2009). "10 Great Black Metal Albums – IGN". ign.com. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
10. "Darkthrone - "A Blaze in the Northern Sky" - Decibel Magazine". decibelmagazine.com. 18 March 2007. Retrieved 27 March 2018.
11. "The 50 Most Evil Songs Ever". Kerrang!. Retrieved 20 July 2019.