The answer? Well enough to keep its core audience happy, but not well enough to displace the classics. Darkstorm started off as a side project of Vlad Blasphemer of Maniac Butcher infamy, although the style is very much the same -- raw, very fast, with precise blasts, absolute mastery of all the devil's scales, and a fair deal of conviction. What it lacks in relation to its infamous cousin is the extravagant croaks and turbulent cries of Barbarud, here replaced by a more standard rasped screamer, and the hilarious essay-length song titles, which yield to more orthodox blasphemic expressions like "Pentagram" and "Hymn to Hell".

There's not a lot to add in way of review. If you wish Immortal had stayed in _Pure Holocaust_ mode come hell or high frostwater, or that Maniac Butcher hadn't grown tired of the fancy-dress parade, then Darkstorm is your daddy. Otherwise, you obviously haven't yet fully succumbed to Satan's charms, and should return to _Hell Satan Blasphemy_ once your initiation is complete and your appetite insatiable.