Darkthrone’s A Blaze in the Northern Sky

Analyzes the music of Darkthrone and Norwegian black metal through the lens of exotic “Northern-ness,” exploring black metal’s global appeal and commercialization as a distinctly Scandinavian musical style.

Darkthrone’s A Blaze in the Northern Sky (1992) is a foundational keystone of the musical and aesthetic vision of the notorious Norwegian black metal scene and one of the most beloved albums of the genre. Its mysterious artwork and raw sound continue to captivate and inspire black metal fans and musicians worldwide. This book explores the album in the context of exoticism and musical geography, examining how black metal music has come to conjure images of untamed Nordic wildernesses for fans worldwide. In doing so, it analyzes aspects of musical style and production that created the distinctly "grim" sound of Darkthrone and Norwegian black metal.