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Various Darkthrone Related Stuff


MaxFaust

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So ... this entire black metal section is four pages long at this point in time. I wasn't expecting to not find any Darktrone in the black metal section of a metal forum ... nor did I ... because at last, on the very last page, there was a Darkthrone thread ... but that one went to shits and has remained dead since 2013. Someone didn't like some record, or possibly a song, and were unable to accept that others could enjoy it, so it was like that. You can't really have a proper discussion under such conditions. Nor can you really salvage the thread. Nor should you, probably.

Anyway, I've been following Darkthrone since 1988 ... and I will very likely keep on listening to whatever they care to publish. It's not complicated. I like Darkthrone. Those who don't, feel free to find something else to enjoy. Life is too short to bitch about all the stuff that seems less than pleasing to you. That being said, let's move on.

I've been hunting for Darkthrone cover songs. Check this out:

 

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Only vaguely so. We're not friends or anything, we just used to hang out in the same places, know a lot of the same people, like the same dirty rotten sounding bands, etc. The music scene in Norway is comparatively small, so there's quite a lot of "crossing over" between the phylums, so to speak. I belong to the "punk" generation that peaked around the year 1980, whereas the larger bulk of the black metal scene in Norway is around 10 years younger than me ... but I still know the Darkthrone boys enough that it would be a little weird if I did not go and say hi if we met by chance somewhere.

Anyway ... speaking of Darkthrone covers:

Then there is this:

And let's not forget the genre benders:

 

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Playing other people's music may not be as glorious as making it all on your own ... but my opinion on the matter is that you get a lot of interesting interpretations of this and that song because of ... shall we say the "tribute" end of cover versions, as in when really competent people do your material in "their" way ... rather than trying to sound like, here and now, Darkthrone. If you're going to sound exactly like the original, then that's a great way to rehearse and learn of course, but perhaps less interesting as "cover version" per se. Darhthrone has made numerous GREAT songs ... but this is perhaps the most covered one:

 

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I was one of those being critical in the old thread but I've changed a lot since 2013. A serious accident and three weeks in hospital will do that. I still don't enjoy a lot of their newer material but I also get a lot out of their classic work. I hear the next record will be closer to Funeral Moon then Leave no Cross Unturned and if it's true I'm excited to hear that.

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  • 9 months later...

Here is a good one. I think Fenriz underplays is drumming. He is modest and if modesty, doesn't work, he is self deprecating ( as we all should be lol). The guy is a solid drummer and is hardly brought into the subject of drums. He is tasteful and uses a right hand setup, as a lefty.  

Fen on the topic what drums should sound like...

 

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Can't believe I haven't said anything in the Darkthrone thread. 

Anyway, what prompted this engagement is the fact that I've just purchased 'The Wind of 666 Black Hearts', which is the Peaceville Records official release of the 'A Blaze in the Northern Sky' and 'Under a Funeral Moon' rehearsal tapes. They're both very full sounding and genuinely worth this official release. I was surprised at the sound quality when I first heard these versions. 

It also amazes me that bands like Darkthrone and Mayhem recorded and kept so much material. There is just an unending reservoir of demos, photos, letters etc. 

The release also has a very good package with an essay from Fenriz as well as the lyrics for the 'Under the Funeral Moon' material. Of course, we all have the original albums on CD (right... right??), but these versions are really good. They're a little more bass heavy and a little less frostbitten, which gives a new light and weight to the tracks. There are also some excellent photos included that I haven't seen before. 

As for Darkthrone at large, I've made my views clear many times on this site, and I don't want to piss people off who are fans of the current material. Suffice to say I left Darkthrone around 1996 and haven't really been able to connect with their Celtic Frost worship/80s era, although I still keep a close eye on them. 

For me, I've had some spiritual experiences listening to Darkthrone, including last year when I was in the Tasmanian wilderness listening to 'Under a Funeral Moon' and gazing at a dark sky of a million stars through the trees... 

Anyway, here's a shot of my Darkthrone collection which I took today in a flurry of Darkthrone enthusiasm. It's obviously not a huge collection, or in any way complete, but I just realised that I have quite a few things that are worth gathering together for a photo. Apologies for the double-up, as I've posted it in the Collections thread in the Photography sub-thread.

Here is the nekro photo of doom: 

 

AEE3-E881-8-D18-45-DB-A5-B9-EFA5-D1-A57-

 

Here's what I've got: 

Soulside Journey (absent!!)

A Blaze in the Northern Sky

Under a Funeral Moon

Transilvanian Hunger (Norsk Arisk version)

Transilvanian Hunger

Panzerfaust

Total Death

Hate Them

Sardonic Wrath

Preparing For War (best of)

Frostland Tapes (all the demos + Goatlord)

Darkthrone Holy Darkthrone (tribute)

The Wind of 666 Black Hearts (rehearsals for A Blaze in the Northern Sky and Under a Funeral Moon)

True Norwegian Black Metal hoodie

True Norwegian Black Metal longsleeve

Transilvanian Hunger short sleeve but I've cut the sleeves off

Transilvanian Hunger flag

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2 hours ago, Requiem said:

Can't believe I haven't said anything in the Darkthrone thread. 

Anyway, what prompted this engagement is the fact that I've just purchased 'The Wind of 666 Black Hearts', which is the Peaceville Records official release of the 'A Blaze in the Northern Sky' and 'Under a Funeral Moon' rehearsal tapes. They're both very full sounding and genuinely worth this official release. I was surprised at the sound quality when I first heard these versions. 

It also amazes me that bands like Darkthrone and Mayhem recorded and kept so much material. There is just an unending reservoir of demos, photos, letters etc. 

The release also has a very good package with an essay from Fenriz as well as the lyrics for the 'Under the Funeral Moon' material. Of course, we all have the original albums on CD (right... right??), but these versions are really good. They're a little more bass heavy and a little less frostbitten, which gives a new light and weight to the tracks. There are also some excellent photos included that I haven't seen before. 

As for Darkthrone at large, I've made my views clear many times on this site, and I don't want to piss people off who are fans of the current material. Suffice to say I left Darkthrone around 1996 and haven't really been able to connect with their Celtic Frost worship/80s era, although I still keep a close eye on them. 

For me, I've had some spiritual experiences listening to Darkthrone, including last year when I was in the Tasmanian wilderness listening to 'Under a Funeral Moon' and gazing at a dark sky of a million stars through the trees... 

Anyway, here's a shot of my Darkthrone collection which I took today in a flurry of Darkthrone enthusiasm. It's obviously not a huge collection, or in any way complete, but I just realised that I have quite a few things that are worth gathering together for a photo. Apologies for the double-up, as I've posted it in the Collections thread in the Photography sub-thread.

Here is the nekro photo of doom: 

 

AEE3-E881-8-D18-45-DB-A5-B9-EFA5-D1-A57-

 

Here's what I've got: 

Soulside Journey (absent!!)

A Blaze in the Northern Sky

Under a Funeral Moon

Transilvanian Hunger (Norsk Arisk version)

Transilvanian Hunger

Panzerfaust

Total Death

Hate Them

Sardonic Wrath

Preparing For War (best of)

Frostland Tapes (all the demos + Goatlord)

Darkthrone Holy Darkthrone (tribute)

The Wind of 666 Black Hearts (rehearsals for A Blaze in the Northern Sky and Under a Funeral Moon)

True Norwegian Black Metal hoodie

True Norwegian Black Metal longsleeve

Transilvanian Hunger short sleeve but I've cut the sleeves off

Transilvanian Hunger flag

Nice !

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  • 1 year later...

I just found this band on YouTube and at least this song below sounds good. I like black metal but with a clear idea of melody which can't be said for the most of the black metal bands which is why up until this moment I liked only Satyricon. But Darkthrone sounds good, so I'll keep listening. :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRbL7bOk9Qw

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  • 2 months later...

I love Darkthrone. The band that laid the template for so much of the black metal I love today. I love all eras of the band's sound maybe not equally but similarly. I don't listen to the three albums between '07 to '10 very much but everything since and including 2013's Underground Resistance has been stellar imo. My boy Culto is a riff machine.

Now this is out of character for me because I'm usually one of the first guys to turn his back on a band that has executed a major direction shift maneuver or in some way shit the bed in my estimation, and I usually have no problem leaving them behind and never looking back. Lots of black metalheads will tell you they love the unholy trinity of Blaze, Funeral Moon, Transyvanian Hunger, and maybe include Panzerfaust and that's it. Some death metal dudes will tell you they only care for Soulside and nothing else. But the newer Darkthrone material is just so fucking good to me I can't hate them for it. I totally understand when people say they lost their way after '96 or so but I just happen to love the path Darkthrone went down so its all good. 

Their last 3 albums that pay homage to their 80's metal roots have been solid fucking gold. I love their 'middle period' from '99 to '04 as well and I still play Plaguewielder and Sardonic and those records all the time too. I will say that I look at the albums since The Cult is Alive in '06 as being by a different band that just happens to have the same name and the same 2 members. Since I see it as an apples and oranges situation it's hard for me to say definitively that I like one era of Darkthrone over another, they're all quite good to me just different. The Underground Resistance would be on a desert island list of my most cherished albums right alongside Blaze and Panzerfaust. When I think about it I probably listen to the early albums less than the more recent ones these days simply because that iconic style has been been done so much better imo by newer bands. So when I get the urge for that nasty 2nd wave early-mid 90's style bm I often look to the 2000's and 2010's and have many bands to choose from that are more than capable of scratching that itch. But Blaze and Transyvanian still get their spins too, they were the originators after all.

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When I first heard Transilvanian hunger it was pretty shocking, the production was rawer than anything I've ever heard and I dropped it like a hot potato. Then some year later I for some reason started to listen to it again and it just clicked. The vocals and guitar riffs were just so perfectly melded with the production. I'm not a huge fan of the punk-infused era of DT, in my ears they made a "come back" with Arctic Thunder and Old Star. I sometimes wonder what would've happened had they continued on the path of Soulside Journey; that one is a fantastic early death metal album IMO.

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1 hour ago, Sheol said:

When I first heard Transilvanian hunger it was pretty shocking, the production was rawer than anything I've ever heard and I dropped it like a hot potato. Then some year later I for some reason started to listen to it again and it just clicked. The vocals and guitar riffs were just so perfectly melded with the production. 

That was me when Ulver's "Nattens Madrigal" came out. I didn't know what to think. I took it back to the store because I thought there might be something wrong with the CD. It was a good sign, I guess.

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21 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

That was me when Ulver's "Nattens Madrigal" came out. I didn't know what to think. I took it back to the store because I thought there might be something wrong with the CD. It was a good sign, I guess.

Hahaha, yeah Ulvers early catalogue is something else. You could tell be "Kveldsanger" that they were destined for living outside the box. And then "The marrige of heaven and hell" dropped. 😮

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31 minutes ago, Sheol said:

Hahaha, yeah Ulvers early catalogue is something else. You could tell be "Kveldsanger" that they were destined for living outside the box. And then "The marrige of heaven and hell" dropped. 😮

Gosh, what a fucking trip that album is. I love it. Still have yet to hear anything else quite like it.

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On 4/26/2021 at 1:22 PM, FatherAlabaster said:

That was me when Ulver's "Nattens Madrigal" came out. I didn't know what to think. I took it back to the store because I thought there might be something wrong with the CD. It was a good sign, I guess.

I am pointing at the screen and laughing so much at this.

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  • 4 months later...

Sure, the new one is great. The last 4 Darkthrone albums have all been stellar, imo. I like the middle period (late 90's to early 2000's) as well as the first 5 of course, and The Cult is Alive is one of my all-time favorites too. There's really not a bad era of Darkthrone, they all have plenty of good shit to offer.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Darkthrone made "Transylvanian Hunger" which is arguably the best & most famous black metal t-shirt of all time... 😉

I've owned my fair share of Darkthrone CDs, starting with Hate Them in my senior year of high school but the one that I'm really interested in getting on vinyl LP is Soulside Journey. I know, I know... it's not black metal but neither was Nokturnal Mortum's Twilightfall and that is one of my favorite albums of all time. I could also see myself shelling out money for A Blaze in the Northern Sky but the big problem I have with Darkthrone is that their output is simply too high for me to really be able to get into them deeply.

Seriously, Darkthrone has more albums than most bands I am into and I haven't listened to even half of them yet due to how prolific Darkthrone has been in the area of studio albums. If I don't have something on vinyl, I find it difficult to really carve out time to listen to it.

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1 minute ago, NokturnalBoredom said:

Darkthrone made "Transylvanian Hunger" which is arguably the best & most famous black metal t-shirt of all time... 😉

I've owned my fair share of Darkthrone CDs, starting with Hate Them in my senior year of high school but the one that I'm really interested in getting on vinyl LP is Soulside Journey. I know, I know... it's not black metal but neither was Nokturnal Mortum's Twilightfall and that is one of my favorite albums of all time. I could also see myself shelling out money for A Blaze in the Northern Sky but the big problem I have with Darkthrone is that their output is simply too high for me to really be able to get into them deeply.

Seriously, Darkthrone has more albums than most bands I am into and I haven't listened to even half of them yet due to how prolific Darkthrone has been in the area of studio albums. If I don't have something on vinyl, I find it difficult to really carve out time to listen to it.

The good thing is, if you like their sound, it's hard to go wrong with any of the first several albums. 

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3 hours ago, FatherAlabaster said:

if you like their sound, it's hard to go wrong with any of the first several albums. 

The only Darkthrone albums I've listened to are: Soulside Journey, A Blaze in the Northern Sky, Transylvanian Hunger, Panzerfaust, and Hate Them. Soulside Journey and A Blaze in the Northern Sky were my favorites. I feel like Transylvanian Hunger suffered from purposely poor production... the CD edition I had just sounded muffled and difficult to really make out the riffs.

It's not that I don't like Darkthrone, it's just that trying to catch up is a hell of a task because it seems like Darkthrone puts out a new album almost every year since they started. That's way too many LPs to buy and Darkthrone LPs aren't exactly cheap. If I could find them used, then it's a task that I'd be willing to invest time into, but the chances of finding affordable, used Darkthrone LPs is that of a snowball in hell; especially in my area because I'm one of the only people around who listens to bm.

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  • 3 months later...

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