this year has been rich in dimmu borgir records already and after i saw them live at wacken open air in august, i am a bit on a dimmu kick. so when nuclear blast put up a tape version of the band's second full length in their store, i didn't think twice and ordered a copy. as i wasn't familiar with this record whatsoever, i informed myself and found out that i just bought a re-recording of the album. dimmu released "stormblåst" in 1996 via cacophonous records. it was recorded at endless sound production and due to a tight schedule the band had to make compromises concerning the sound.
obviously this was bugging leading band members shagrath and silenoz that much, that they were losing their sleep over this. in 2005 they decided to re-record the whole affair in the way they originally wanted it to sound. they entered abyss studios in sweden and settled this once and for all. among fans of dimmu's early days, the re-recording is like a red rag to a bull. the band felt the need to justify for "stormblåst MMV" right from the beginning, so there is even an explanation in the booklet.
that doesn't concern me to be honest. i think the record is quite good. it is way more forceful than i had anticipated. the production doesn't seem too clear to my ears but i experienced that quite often with abyss studio productions. not really my taste in most cases. the tape is pro-made and looks and sounds well from front to back. 100 copies made with the light grey shell. nuclear blast. oldschool records. 2018.
