''Blizzard Beasts'' is the fourth studio album by Norwegian

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw ( lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an em ...

band

Immortal Immortality is the ability to live forever, or eternal life. Immortal or Immortality may also refer to: Film * ''The Immortals'' (1995 film), an American crime film * ''Immortality'', an alternate title for the 1998 British film ''The Wisdom of ...

. It was released on March 20, 1997 through

Osmose Productions Osmose Productions is a French independent record label created in 1991 by Hervé Herbaut, after he had spent three years running a small mail order company. They specialize mainly in death and black metal bands. Many of the groups who began wit ...

. It is the last Immortal album to feature the performance of founding member Demonaz Doom Occulta until ''

Northern Chaos Gods ''Northern Chaos Gods'' is the ninth studio album by Norwegian black metal band Immortal. The album was released on 6 July 2018. This is the first album after the departure of Abbath from the band and their first studio album in almost nine years ...

'' (2018) and the first to feature Horgh on drums. Demonaz was later diagnosed with acute

tendinitis Tendinopathy, a type of tendon disorder that results in pain, swelling, and impaired function. The pain is typically worse with movement. It most commonly occurs around the shoulder ( rotator cuff tendinitis, biceps tendinitis), elbow ( tennis e ...

which prevented him from playing guitar at the required speed for Immortal's music. Stylistically, ''Blizzard Beasts'' has primarily songs that are less than three minutes long, contrasting with Immortal's usual longer song lengths.

Release

On the first pressings of the album, the logo was etched into the jewel case front.

Critical reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

gave the album an unfavorable review, writing, "''Blizzard Beasts'' ..sounds like a rush job when compared to the rest of the band's triumphant catalog. The majesty of the group's songwriting is buried in the album's subpar production values, which render the potentially brilliant hyperspeed riffing and drum battery gutless and ineffectual." Chronicles of Chaos noted the album's

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, fe ...

influence, comparing their sound to that of

Morbid Angel Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida, formed in 1983 by guitarist, primary composer and sole remaining original member Trey Azagthoth, vocalist and bassist Dallas Ward, and drummer Mike Browning. Widely considered ...

's. The website ultimately called it an "unexpected and interesting change for the band, with some fierce and engaging material." Canadian journalist

Martin Popoff Martin Popoff (born April 28, 1963) is a Canadian music journalist, critic and author. He is mainly known for writing about the genre of heavy metal music. The senior editor and co-founder of ''Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles'', he has additionall ...

remarked how the album covered "every facet of stand-alone black metal mayhem" and praised Immortal for playing "the very best no frills black metal on the planet."

Track listing

Personnel

Abbath Doom Occulta Olve Eikemo (born 27 June 1973), better known by his stage name Abbath Doom Occulta or simply Abbath, is a Norwegian musician best known as a founding member of the black metal band Immortal. Before founding Immortal, Abbath performed with Old ...

– vocals,

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

; keyboards * Demonaz Doom Occulta –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

* Horgh –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

Charts

References

{{Authority control Immortal (band) albums 1997 albums Osmose Productions albums