Review Summary: On Immortals last album with Demonaz on guitar, and the first with Horgh on drums the trio make sure Blizzarrd beasts is one of their best works.
Immortal has always been in the vanguard of black metal, even after Demonaz had to give up guitar. Blizzard Beasts marks a huge evolution in their sound. The songs have a much more progressive structure, and a better produced, but still cold and evil sound. The line up could not have been any better, Demonaz was definitely at his best on this recording, Horgh is a huge step up from having Abbath on drums, and while his bass is not very evident Abbath's vocals are mixed into the album to make them sound like he is screaming in a Norwegian blizzard. All these elements collide to create one truly evil black metal album.
The biggest change is the guitar work. Demonaz shows off allot more with guitar solos, and more technical riffs. His tremolo picking gets faster with every album, and he shows much stronger musicianship on this release. This evolution is most noticeable on Nebular Ravens Winter, and Battlefields. Both of these songs have the strongest guitar-work, and the solo's are a welcome addition to the Immortal sound.
The drumming has also evolved tremendously. Now that there is a member who focuses primarily on drums the drumming is much more rhythmically, and technically diverse. Of-course There are blast beasts on this album, but Horgh also utilizes syncopation, and complex rhythms allot more than Abbath. This diverse, and technical drum work makes immortal sound much more progressive, and unique than the other black metal giants.
If you enjoyed the vocals on every other Immortal album then you will not be disappointed on this one. Abbath's vocals have stayed the same throughout Immortal's career. And of-course the lyrics for songs like Nebular Ravens Winter, and Frostdemonstorm are about their fantasy world of Blashyrkh.
Blizzard Beasts was a huge experiment with the black metal sound. Even though it went against the main elements of the genre, such as satanism, poor production, repetition, simple guitar work, and simple rhythms, it is still an excellent example of black metal. Immortal proved that a black metal band can be technical, and show off from time to time, and still be evil.
Pro's
+excellent guitar work
+better production allows you to hear instruments more clearly
+Amazing drums
+No song sounds the same
+More technical, and progressive songs
Con's
-vocals have not changed at all
-hard to find outside of Scandinavia
-last album with demonaz on guitar
