21 Years Ago: IMMORTAL release Blizzard Beasts

Daily Noise - / 2018

21 Years Ago: IMMORTAL release Blizzard Beasts

We managed to be different from our earlier albums also this time, and we changed the concept a bit, but not the style. It still sounds Immortal. We also wanted to develop ourselves continuously. Develop, but maintain and keep our own style. Theme is the usual, which I think goes perfectly along with our way of playing music.
- Demonaz / Immortal interview, Oskorei Magazine #1, 1997

Released on this day in 1997, the fourth IMMORTAL LP, Blizzard Beasts!

As real as the realms we ride, with none above and none at side.

IMMORTAL decided to use a new studio for this album, Sigma in Bergen. The three previous albums were all recorded at the infamous Grieghallen with Pytten.

We were fed up with the people at Greighallen and we wanted to try something new, working with others, more open minded producers so to speak. We felt we were banging our heads against the wall and not being able to do our thing, so we changed. Sigma has also better equipment and circumstances for recordings, but in spite of that, our next studio album will not be recorded in Norway.
- Demonaz / Immortal interview, Oskorei Magazine #1, 1997

Blizzard Beasts was recorded in Sigma Studios. We wanted a better studio because we wanted to work with more professional people. We didn't want a polished sound, but a stronger production.
...
Sigma is a much better studio, with more professional equipment. We produced the album ourselves, with a good sound engineer assisting us. Blizzard Beasts could never have been recorded at Grieghallen.
- Demonaz / Immortal interview, Heresy Magazine #2, 1997

Sigma opened in 1982 and closed in 1999, the year of IMMORTAL's next album At the Heart of Winter. The band had already moved studio in 1998, travelling to Peter Tägtgren's Abyss, which was used for all subsequent albums.