Following the recording of Soulside Journey, the band began crafting songs that embraced more black metal characteristics, which resulted in the instrumental demo Goatlord.

Bassist Nilsen was opposed to this shift in direction and subsequently left the band; however, he agreed to record his bass parts for the album as a session musician.

A Blaze in the Northern Sky was reissued again by Peaceville in December 2009 as a double gatefold LP on 180-gram vinyl, limited to 2,000 copies.

In his retrospective review of the album, Eduardo Rivadavia from AllMusic awarded A Blaze 5 out of 5 stars, describing it as "a classic whose almost indefensibly lo-fi standards would reinvigorate an entire strain of black metal.

"[11] Channing Freeman of Sputnikmusic characterized the album as "triumphant," highlighting its balanced blend of "frozen production and guttural screams" alongside "a sense of community.

referred to it as "a dark watershed for the black metal genre," describing the song In the Shadow of the Horns as "seven minutes of defiant lo-fi production, frostbitten purpose, and blunt-force simplicity.