Metal Reviews

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This was a very solid album. But, as you said, there were a lot of better releases this year. Though I still have faith that Darkthrone will release something as good as Transylvanian Hunger, though I doubt it will be in the complete vein as Transylvanian Hunger.

I liked Hate Them more.....

I only got ravishing grimness and hate them from this band, and i truly hate them. So simple and dull arangments , and totally uninteresting riffs , that i can not recall any other band that would be so bad, and still having many fans.

Get the first ones; if you still don't understand why they where so great then you simply don't understand or like Black Metal at all.

Who told you to but those two first anyway? :roll:

Yeah well true, maybe i don't understand black metal. Tho there are black metal bands that i truly like, becouse first of all they musically represent something. They can arrange intereseting song, with good riffs, and create the right mood. Darkthrone in my opinion can do nothing from above, as i already wrote=).

I am not the biggest black metal fan in the world but i do enjoy black metal (borgir, emperor, satyricon, two last albums from mayhem etc...). What i can't understand is ...WHY THE FUCK NO TO GIVE TO THE FANS A PROPER PRODUCTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!??????????I mean they stayed for 26h in the studio for their last album and they said it was hillarious! Drums sound like taperware guitars sound like pieces of metal scratching to each other and bass sounds like nothing...I can't tell if it is a good or bad album beacuse of the production...I would be really interested to listen how they sound with a proper production

That is because you don't understand the true essence of black metal, a real black metal fan (true black metal is not dimmu or emperor or latest mayhem) enjoys bad productions. I wouldn't be interested anymore if my favorite bands had a slightly good production. Deathkvlt is the only one I met that I know of that he understands black metal the same way I do, but there might be more on this site (Zefferon). Bad productions (buzzing guitars and flopflop drums) leave multiple interpretations, good production leaves only one way open, the one you hear.

Now this doesn't mean dimmu borgir or emperor are not extremely good, they just play another style of black metal, inwhich they unfortunately took one very important aspect away. I don't agree with those who say dimmu borgir are not black metal, but they are definitely not true black metal. (With the exception of their split with old man's child).

In The Nightside Eclipse was true black metal. The following ones were more progressive then black.

Really, I love the sound on that famous Emperor demo, Wrath of the Tyrant, because they sound so young, determined, and full of hate. Later... they felt almost tired around Prometheus.

I like bad production when the band puts their heart into it. THAT is true black metal. The other elements, though some are necessary, are purely secondary. If a band puts their heart, soul, and work heavily into an album, and you can feel it... that's why people like Burzum. You can feel Varg's frustration, his hate, his sorrow, the pity with which he views those who do not understand... sure, the music is rather repetitive and has a distinct lack of technicality. THAT DOESN'T MATTER. It's the FEEL, the atmosphere, the epic qualities, the emotion... that's what makes black metal. Not the lightspeed tremolo riffing. Not the conservatively brilliant drumming. Not the anguished scream vocals.

That's why I like black metal.

There is a time for good production and bad production, most the time i prefer mediocre production, not like totally horrible, but not like the best, just kinda, there, i just hate when everything sound so shitty and muffled together.

I love the production on Burzum- Filosofem.

Thank you for noticing, kind of.

As I've said before good production doesn't belong in black metal. In fact, I only like good production for newer non-BM stuff. Time-based production gives non-BM stuff character. And for black metal, Repeat Gast's statements.

In black metal "good" production sounds...hmm.... lame. It takes away the single most important factor from it, the freecing, hateful atmosphere that all good BM hordes should have, among some other elements. Damn, I mean, can you imagine if albums like transilvanian hunger or under the sign of hell for example had clean, modern production that plagues so many newer releases. Now I may not understand black metal, or music in general, so well as some of you do, but atleast darkthrone shall have my respect for remaining true to that cold northern sound of theirs. I sure as hell hope they will never change that aspect in their music, and I'm pretty sure they wont.

Let's take Immortal for example...They create a very accurate winterish cold atmosphere with excellent production. "Sons" was very bombastic and cold with Horgh's deep drums and Abbath's classic tremelo riffs (In My Kingdom Cold, Demonium, 1b1). Same for "Battles." Granted, the production was not as polished by Targten (sp?), but it wasn't utterly raw.

Raw production only suits certain musicians and tarnishes others. It fits perfectly for Burzum, Darkthrone, or many of the polish\German BM acts. But I couldn't imagine not being able to full experience Abbath's grimdemon vox, Vegard\Samoth's excellent riffage, Mustiis's keys, or Hellhammer|Horgh's crushing, neck-snapping drums.

And Prometheus was excellent...

Hmmm... in regards to production, for me, true Black metal does not need a clean production, nor does a clean production have any place in true BM. It is an abstract artform, hence, personal and at the same time possesing qualities of the arcane darkness within.
It is kind of like the old movies like London After Midnight, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Freaks, Nosferatu, etc...black and white, yes; primitive, yes; grainy, yes; but, most importantly, a conveyance of haunted atmospheric darkness.
It is less music, than a spell cast over the senses, enveloping the listener in a cloak of the uncanny, morbid, macabre. the outre.
Also, true BM, to me at least, has always had the same fuck-you-attitude that punkrock had in the old days (I am old enough to remember them, alas.)
Lastly, it may very well be an intentional exclusion of the uninitiated, for lack of a more suitable phrase... it is definitely not music for the masses, thus you have the "elitist" attitudes that some true BM afficionadi so often espouse. Rightly, or wrongly that seems to be the way it is.
Oh, BTW, I agree that Darkthrone have not lived up to the first four albums, but isn't that usually the case?
V.

I only like raw production like this albüm

:twisted:

(We really need that emoticon that's giving the horns........)

I thought this might interest you guys.

From Blabbermouth.net:


DARKTHRONE Refuse ALARM Award Nomination - Dec. 16, 2004
Legendary Norwegian black metal band DARKTHRONE, nominated last Wednesday in the "Metal" category for the highly coveted Norwegian Alarm Awards, have now been removed from the list of nominees.

DARKTHRONE, one of five candidates in the metal category for their album "Sardonic Wrath", communicated their dissatisfaction at being nominated in an article published in Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten the day after the selected names were released to the public. "We play real and honest black metal," drummer Fenriz commented in the article. "And we have no interest in being part of the glitter and showbiz side of the music industry."

Alarm Awards chief, Svein Bjørge, was surprised by the band's reaction but hasted to find a solution that culminated in the band's elimination from the category altogether.

On hearing the news that their wish had been granted, Fenriz commented, "I just wanted to say my piece about the whole Alarm nomination thing last week and whether they kept us in or not would have been no skin off my nose."

"I have everything AGAINST awards for black metal," Nocturno Culto added. "What a fucking circus this has become."

"I am not against awards in general," Fenriz concluded. "I just thought it was not for us."

"Sardonic Wrath" is out now on Moonfog with promotion and distribution through The End Records in North America.

Darkthrone are SO "kvlt"....... :roll: .


Thanx J !

Every BMfan should get this record according to rule 94 of the true kvlt code:

94. Own every Darkthrone release. Listen to exactly none of them.