365 Days of Metal: Rebecca Black Metal Friday vol. 11

A very special black metal Friday in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Darkthrone's first black metal release. 

Day 111 

Darkthrone - A Blaze in the Northern Sky

Band Origin:  Kolbotn, Norway

Genre: Black Metal
Label: Peaceville
Running Time: 28 minutes 
Release Date: February 26, 1992

Best Part: The pure chill felt by the buzzing sonic force of the album's low production quality.

Favorite Tracks: In the Shadow of the Horns, Kathaarian Life Code, A Blaze in the Northern Sky, and The Pagan Winter

Grade: 4.5

--------- 

A Blaze in the Northern Sky in way more than 20 words or less: 

A Blaze in the Northern Sky was Darkthrone's second album and first in the black metal vein, having shifted from their death metal origin, and remains along with the rest of their 'Unholy Trinity' of albums, as an iconic album in black metal history.

The Band: 

Darkthrone was originally formed in 1988 as a death metal band to become one of the most influential and pioneering forces in the Norwegian black metal scene, just a few short years later. While the band was originally comprised of five members Darkthrone has consisted solely of Ted 'Nocturno Culto' Skjellum and Gylve 'Fenriz' Nagel since 1993. It was in 1991 that the band would shift their musical style from death metal to early black metal and would also begin to adopt the other elements associated with it, including corpse paint and their pseudonyms. With the help of fellow original guitarist Ivar 'Zephyrous' Enger and bassist Dag Nilsen, the band would record A Blaze in the Northern Sky, their first true black metal release in 1992. Nilsen departed the group and the trio of Nocturno Culto, Fenriz and Zephyrous would record a second album, 1993's Under a Funeral Moon, before Zephyrous would also leave the group. Nevertheless the duo would record and release Transilvanian Hunger in 1994. These three record would come to be known as the 'Unholy Trinity' and are regarded as a collective of some of the most influential early Norwegian black metal. Darkthrone would go on to record six more black metal records before changing their musical style once more in 2006 to a variant of crust punk, black metal and speed metal.

Darkthrone's other releases include: Soulside Journey (1991), Under a Funeral Moon (1993), Transilvanian Hunger (1994), Panzerfaust (1995), Total Death (1996), Ravishing Grimness (1999), Plaguewielder (2001), Hate Them (2003), Sardonic Wrath (2004), The Cult is Alive (2006), F.O.A.D. (2007), Dark Thrones and Black Flags (2008), and Circle the Wagons (2010) 

Jay's Take on A Blaze in the Northern Sky: 

When you take into consideration all of the artists involved in the founding years of the early Norwegian black metal scene, and the building blocks upon which the genre would come build itself upon, Darkthrone remain a name synonymous with many of the 'trends' and defacto elements of black metal, even to this day. They are one of the bands in early black metal to truly push the continued use of corpse paint within the genre, to focus on raw, low production quality on their records, and in between A Blaze in the Northern Sky and Transilvanian Hunger, truly pushed the satanic and misanthropic aspects behind the early black metal scene. A Blaze in the Northern Sky was not a perfect album, Fenriz has stated over the years that the album was ultimately rushed, and that elements of death metal are still present in the album, primarily in riffs which were played more to suit the new black metal style. Its rather its imperfections that make it out to be such an important piece of black metal history. Despite the low production quality of the recording, the instrumentation is still put together in way that makes it so that every base, every frequency of sound is still covered. The sonic force of Nocturno Culto and Zephyrous' guitars are obviously the driving force on the record, but the drum work is still very audible, clear and manages to sound big even amongst the wailing sonic crush of the guitars. The guitar work itself is what infuses so much of the ambiance into this and future Darkthrone records. The riffs buzz aloud, making the overall sound feel bleak and almost soul-chillingly cold. There is a necessary sense of repetition, something which is akin to Darkthrone in general, but there is still a balance of different riffs coursing throughout each track, as evidence on the 10 minute opening track Kathaarian Life Code. The vocal work is where the bleak darkness of the music comes together with the true evilness of the the record. The opening minute of the album begins with a nebulous series of satanic chants, opening into a vile, bile-etched scream, where Fenriz slowly begins to belt out the haunting, shrieking lyrics which are simply sinister and nihilistic. No, A Blaze in the Northern Sky may not have been perfect, but it set the tone for their future releases, including Transilvanian Hunger which would be regarded as their most influential album, and the point where Nocturno Culto and Fenriz would remain as a duo until this day.

Sample of the Day: 



- J