Metal Night at The Westside Palace: Darkthrone Retrospective

Good evening, Eldritch Ones, oh ye Minions of Old. Another Metal Night doth commence. I hath but one command for thee: Thou shalt sippeth the cup of Gin and Tonics while hearing the evil sounds of Darkthrone.

I've been wanting to do a Darkthone retrospective for a while. Darkthrone are one of the most important bands in the history of Black Metal; iconoclasts amongst iconoclasts. Forging a uniquely caustic sound out of a simple three chord formula, they are no basement dwelling hacks. These are expert musicians who systematically stripped down their sound on each album, progressing gradually into the beastly blackened crust they are to today. We chose 4 albums from 4 different periods of their work.

Darkthrone's first album, 'Soulside Journey', is a technical death metal album. It is one of the best technical death metal albums of the early 90's, a genre standard bearer. The riffs are amazing, and they should be, considering that they rip off Celtic Frost at least half the time. And this is no vice here, since they use them in a different context, worshiping at the alter of Tom G. Warrior, a factor Darkthrone would repeat throughout their career. The tremulous guitar work has hints of black metal to come. The lyrics are the real indicator of the black metal soul of this band, describing eccentric forays into the occult nether regions. But the real star of this show is Fenriz's supple, powerful drumwork. He fills the rhythmic landscape majestically, blast beating when necessary, expertly driving the band from time change to time change. If Darkthrone had continued on as a death metal band, they would have made their mark as pioneers of the genre simply on the merits this album.

The next album was a complete and utter reinvention. While maintaining the progressive spirit of the first album, 'A Blaze In The Northern Sky' is an absolute classic of black metal. Gone are the molten riffs, replaced by sheets of freezing black ice. While even more explicitly referencing Celtic Frost , this album amps up the evil, every sound wave drenched in cold. Fenriz's drum work, while still amazing and expert, is blunter, faster, and sickening. The production is lo-fi, the treble through the roof, leaving almost no room for the bass at all. The bass player quite in anger after this album, making the band a duo for the rest of their career. The songs themselves are amazing constructions, dark labyrinths of sound and fury, containing many rooms and dungeons. This was an aspect Darkthrone would leave behind, seeking to further regress and strip down their sound on subsequent albums. Chris and I declared this the winner.

The next two albums, 'Under A Funeral Moon' and 'Transylvanian Hunger', are also classics of the genre. The Darkthrone sound is further stripped down to a grim, trancelike minimalism, most songs having only two or three riff a piece, with little rhythmic diversity. This is the sound that they are most identified with. It is a sound that most black metal is identified with, which is their greatest achievement. Chris and I did not listen to these albums, though.

If you ever wondered what the pure essence of black metal is, listen to this song:

After their two genre defining classics, Darkthrone released some relatively mediocre albums, sticking to the formula(though 'Goatlord' was a demo release of the death metal album that was to follow 'Soulside Journey'). So we skipped ahead to the band's most underrated album, 1999's 'Ravishing Grimness'. It easy to see why it is; the first two songs are mediocre. The lyrical bent seems less inspired and loony than as on previous albums. The album takes it's own, sweet time to get warmed up. The production is clearer and the guitar sound thicker. Halfway through the third song you will find yourself sucked into the tonal maelstrom that Darkthrone crafts so well. Nothing really new, but quality grave robbing sickness, none the less.

A few albums later, and Darkthrone reinvent themselves again, leaving behind pure black metal for a more crust punk and traditional metal sound. 2007's 'F.O.A.D' is a good example of the band's reinvigorated sound. More than simply adapting a punk rock style, the band seeks to remake punk for themselves, and infuse it with more evil, while retaining a sense of fun, something new for these grim ghouls. The song "Canadian Metal" is a hoot, an ode to Canadian thrash bands that only a true metal dork could write. Grimy, scuzzy, crusty punk metal...what's not to love? And, always, the Celtic Frost riff referencing abides.