Anatomia NOR: Darkthrone IV (of IX)

 

    

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SECOND ERA – CRISIS, TRIAL AND ERROR
1996-2001

6.Total Death (1996) Running time: 35:47, 8 tracks After the band's golden age, during in which they gained fame and respect, dark times has followed. Black Metal had burned out creatively, and started to be supplanted by Symphonic farts like Dimmu Borgir / Cradle of Filth or the melo-death of In Flames / At The Gates. During this period, the band, for the first time, didn't give a damn about anything around them. Suffice to say, at the time, Panzerfaust wasn't yet as appreciated as it is today, and the band itself took a break from recording, shortly after the album's release, as if seeing no point in continuing. It was during these circumstances that this album was created, which is essentially a carbon copy of Panzerfaust, albeit without the atmosphere and inspiration. While I personally don't mind this album, I'm not going to particularly defend it either. The final result was that while the album was noticed, it also didn't garner any enthusiasm from anyone - audience, press, nor the even band themselves. It's mediocre, but still, the kind of album only Darkthrone can create.

7.Goatlord (1996) Running time: 37:50, 10 tracks (Moonfog version) Running time: 42:45, 11 tracks (Re-editiona) Running time: 44:48, 11 tracks (Instrumental) Right before their long hiatus, the band released what started to becoming an urban legend, their initial  second album. I mentioned earlier that Darkthrone recorded two albums as a quartet. This is the second one. The version that was ultimately released, aside from overdubbed guitars, increased Black Metal style, and vocals by Fenriz alone (the only album without Nocturno Culto on vocals, who normally does 99% of the vocals on albums), both male and female (!) vocals, plus a guest appearance by Satyr. All this to ensure the album doesn't necessarily stand out stylistically from the rest of their discography. And what is the final result? Experimental, to say the least, and completely unsuited to anything or anyone. I don't fully understand why fans dislike this album, as it's a complete brutality. Perhaps it's partly because it's full of Death Metal. However, I don't think it's a weak album; I'm more inclined to think people have bad hearing.

8.Ravishing Grimness (1999) Running time: 37:40, 6 tracks A few years passed, and a major comeback occurred. The first DT album (at least in my opinion) where the band took the path of the least resistance. I can defend Total Death, if only by saying that they copied proper influences. In the case of this one, the band xeroxed themselves. There's nothing worse than self-plagiarism. „Album by the numbers”, as peopel say. No passion, a so-so sound and decent songs, nothing to write home about. Some people blame the band for trying to break into the mainstream, little by little, albeit I think it was just a case of a fatigue. It's also worth noting that this is one of the few albums where practically everything, except for the drums, was handled by Nocturno Culto. Including the lyrics, which, after all, were always written by Fenris. He himself, on the other hand, was depressed and didn't give a damn. A minor trivia. At one point in the title track, Nocturno Culto pays tribute to Burzum, singing "Now I'm guaranteed a place in hell" as the chorus. I like that they still had a sense of humor. 9.Plaguewielder (2001) Running time: 42:50, 6 tracks The crisis continues. Once again, Nocturno is doing everything here, and once again, according to conspiracy theories, DT was aiming for more commercial appearl, as this time a colorful cover appeared. The band's logo itself was in red. Unfortunately, I own the reissue, and it's a shame the new version didn't retain the group's original intentions. This is probably the album I spent the longest time analyzing, trying to figure out what went wrong? I played it over and over again, and the music just didn't grab me, whereas with other albums, at worst, I got it the second time around. Not this time. I finally appreciated tracks 2-4, with the best track being #4, "Command." The problem is that this track, while the best here, would be mediocre elsewhere. For the first time, a certain irritating flaw of Darkthrone became apparent... First thing, the songs end arbitrarily, meaning that something lasts, say, four minutes, when the theme could easily have been expanded upon and the song could have been two more minutes long. No such luck; the band cuts off at some point and moves on. Another issue is the intro/outro. The song ends, for example, at five minutes, and for the next two minutes, the song drags and artificially lengthens the duration. Interestingly, this is the band's longest album ever, but if you subtract the nonsense, you're left with about 36 minutes of pure music, which, for a change, would be one of their shorter albums. This is very evident here, moreson than on any other album by the band. Many people wrote DT off at this stage. And of course, the sound – one of the main criticisms of the group was that they constantly used the same equipment, the same studio, and it felt like they were making records on some assembly line. This here is where we find the peak of this feeling, as the album sounds almost as sterile as their debut, which is not a small feat. Despite all the criticism, if some of the songs from this album were re-recorded and the rest tweaked a bit, it would have been a pretty epic album. But it is what it is. It's possible that both the criticism and the poor reception meant that Fenriz and Culto were going to lose their minds and do something completely unpredictable in the future. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

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