Darkthrone
A Blaze in the Northern Sky

THE REVIEW

"Desert, night, coyotes feel the cold wave of dark, red eyes eat through the vast nocturnal landscape, a strong light... the only light"

"A Blaze In The Northern Sky" begins like this, with the grim and sinister introduction of "Kathaarian Life Code". A formula is repeated by dark voices (rumored to be Fenriz) while Nocturno Culto spits out words like a snake that is tired of staying inside a damn Norwegian hole...

"We are a blaze... in the northern... sky !" ...then the sonic massacre begins with Nocturno's guitar and Fenriz's "dirty" drums, which, however, lasts rather briefly. In fact, the song stops immediately to continue at a slow pace, which makes this "life code" even more engaging for all of its 10-minute duration. Because Darkthrone is the only light in this eternally black sky dotted with extinguished stars, year 1991 (year of recording). From the cover (which, along with those of "Transilvanian Hunger" and "Under a Funeral Moon," will make history), Zephyrous smiles malevolently at us, with hands spread as if he wants to drag us into his darkness...

"As once they gazed upon the hillside searching for the memories..."

"In The Shadow Of The Horns," distorted guitars as usual in black... yet Darkthrone has that ability to create such a dirty sound ("like elementary school bathrooms," a friend of mine used to say) that their compositions stand out very well from other sweet (?!) black metal songs. Memories, reminiscences... I recently saw some videos on the internet where Fenriz and Nocturno Culto talk about the recordings of the early albums... the following quote from Nocturno stayed impressed in my mind:

"You know, when we recorded "A Blaze In The Northern Sky"... we just took all that death metal riffs of "A Soulside Journey", and played them in a black metal style ...the result was this album... Peaceville (their label at the time) listened to the record and said: "what the fuck is this? this is not death metal, we signed you as a death metal band" ...then I said that we changed our style totally (also thanks to Euronymous, whom Darkthrone met during the summer of '90) and that was our future ...they released the record ...nobody regrets that now!"

Listening to a Darkthrone album is like embarking on a journey with no destination, not knowing the road but always knowing where to step ...there's never a moment where it's possible to get lost. The entire work flows with compositions that are very similar to each other and all closely connected. However beautiful, and that’s how black should be. Pure. Raw (not always, but that's another story). Norwegian? It doesn't matter. Unfortunately, there are Cradle Of Filth who haven't listened to Euronymous's words, and now they sell and are loaded with money and are pure/fucking/black/metal/evil/satan/monsters. But that's another story as well.

"Paragon Belial," third track : "Simulating a spectre shadow...". Nocturno's voice seems close, maybe he's around the corner, waiting for us... or maybe not. Maybe he's getting drunk in some bar nearby the studio along with Fenriz. Who knows.

The devastating "Where Cold Winds Blow" comes like a bolt from the blue (well, not really clear). The most violent of the album. The guitars are barely audible; the drumming is super fast, and Nocturno with that voice of his reminiscent of a possessed monk (he really has a godlike voice! hmmm...).

To conclude beautifully the walk in the northern sky with the unforgettable title track. It too, like "Kathaarian Life Code," features a slowed tempo in the middle, captivating in its malevolent simplicity. An attempt at melody (a term not present in most black metal bands' composition dictionaries) by Nocturno, maybe 4, 5 notes... damnably brilliant.

Unfortunately, the pagan winter came, calling upon the brave Norwegian knights, and left as a legacy to the world one of the greatest black metal albums ever written, played, produced. The highest rating applies both to the music and the immortal cover... bwahahaha it's cold here. I'm going to cover my face with some corpse paint...