DARK THRONE A Blaze in the Northern Sky

I got into DARK THRONE on their first album. When I bought Blaze in the Northern Sky it hit me for six, this was nothing like their first album, whilst on their first album the they had a dark death metal feild and in the space of a year went completely old school black metal with this their second official release (The was another album recorded between this and Soulside Journey but thats a story for another time) and their first release Soulside Journey. After the intial shock of this wore off I settled into the groove of the record and it quickly became one of my all time favorites.

The album has that old school black metal feel with a recording quality similar to say early Bathory or Hellhammer but with a more advanced array of guitar and drum patterns than those bands. The more I think about it this was probably the perfect transition for the band as they got into black metal right as it was about to become the new underground buzz word in metal.

The album opens up with “Kathaarian Life Code” and straight away (well, right after the obligatory evil black metal intro) the listener is blasted with unholy blast beats and lo fi guitar tones which when one listens closely are playing quite technical riffage with some rather primitive sounding song arrangements. This is addictive stuff. The vocals like nothing I’d heard at the time and set the the 1000s of black metal bands that would soon take influence from Darkthrone. In the Shadow of the Horns for me is a showstopper, I love this song. It drew me right in 30+ years ago when it first came out and still to this day gets me. The songs on this are longer and given more room to breathe as black metal can allow for that and have a strangely hypnotic vibe to them which really draws you in. The album continues in a similar vein and I think this would have to be one of my favorite if not the greatest of what I’d call the second wave of Black Metal.

I can hear the progression from their first album in this. Many people can’t but if you listen the riffage some of it is very similar in style to that of Soulside but mixed in with some definite Celtic Frost influences and of course that Lo-Fi underproduced feel. “Paragon Belial” and “Where the Cold Winds Blow” keep things going in similar style. One thing I love about this album is drummer Fenriz’s organic feel to the drums. It kind of comes across a bit sloppy but has an amazing feel that is harder to create just just being technically perfect. It redefines the feeling of the album and gives it a unique feel that few bands can replicate.

This is a special album in the History of Black Metal and really, all I can do is implore you to listen to it. For me it and Soulside Journey are peak Dark Throne but even if you don’t think it’s their peak, No one I’ve ever talked to has anything bad to say about this record.

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