Darkthrone "A Blaze in the Northern Sky" CD
[Peaceville]
The second installment of the Darkthrone reissues brings us the album that changed everything for the band. Crushing Swedish death metal riffing? Gone. Relatively clean production? Out the fucking door. Speed? Yeah, lots of it, and the tempos are way faster than anything from the band's debut. They also jacked up the running times of the songs quite a bit, what with every track herein running longer than the longest of the "Soulside Journey" material. And, of course, as everyone likely knows, in came the corpse paint and the rugged, primitive black metal sound by which much of today's black metal is judged. But there are some other influences at work. Hell, there are even some classic hardcore/punk chord progressions during "In the Shadow of the Horns" (as well as some eerily pristine acoustic guitars towards the end). One thing I will say about Darkthrone's change in direction is this: Even though the recordings can sometimes be hard to take, and the songwriting somewhat repetitive, there's definitely a lot of feeling and atmosphere present, especially on this record and some of their other early forays into black metal. The recording here is definitely raw as fuck, but it does work. It's funny because you can just hear the speakers faintly sizzling with fuzzy distortion, and at times everything sounds like it's caving in with every kick of the bass drum. The guitars are sort of distant in some ways, but the drums are still dense and natural, the bass is audible, and the snarling vocals are mixed right in close with the guitar parts. Just like the first reissue the CD is housed in a glossy digipack that keeps the original cover art intact and includes the lyrics as well as some additional photos. The lyrics still retain a personal touch, but start getting into more of an "evil" sort of theme to some degree. "The triumph of chaos - has guided our path, We circled the holy Sinai - our swords gave wings, Invisible of our abyssic hate, Our seeds boil as we gaze upon the new millennium..." The second chapter of the interview between Fenriz and Nocturno Culto is on the CD-Rom, and runs just about the same length as the first portion. It's interesting this time around to hear Fenriz recount having an entire second album finished, more in the style of "Soulside Journey", but they threw it all out in favor of heading in this new direction of primitive black metal - which they completed in around three to four months. Also amusing are his remarks about the label's initial reaction to the record and his arguments with them. Many would consider this Darkthone's finest hour, and while I've never personally been able to pinpoint a favorite Darkthone record, this is indeed a benchmark for both the band and the genre. (7/10)
Running time - 42:05, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: In the Shadow of the Horns, The Pagan Winter]
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