A Blaze in the Northern Sky
| A Blaze in the Northern Sky | ||||
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| Studio album by Darkthrone | ||||
| Released | 26 February 1992 | |||
| Recorded | August 1991 at Creative Studios in Kolbotn, Norway | |||
| Genre | Black metal | |||
| Length | 42:02 | |||
| Label | Peaceville | |||
| Producer | Darkthrone | |||
| Darkthrone chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |  |
| Sputnikmusic |  |
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, 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. It was the last album to feature bassist Dag Nilsen.
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 Dag 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".
Due to Darkthrone's sudden change from death metal to black metal, Peaceville Records 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. However, Peaceville eventually agreed to release the album as it was recorded.
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