As part of Black Metal History Month, we will be spotlighting classic albums and present new editorials that we feel are essential for any fan of black metal. Make sure to pick up our limited edition Black Metal History Month t-shirt.
Now I know what you're thinking, but just bear with me on this one.
Look, everyone already knows that Darkthrone's trio of Black Metal classics are essential. I've already written an entry on A Blaze in the Northern Sky, there's already been enough said about Under a Funeral Moon, and to be honest – I've never been the biggest fan of Transylvanian Hunger anyway (sorry!). Darkthrone didn't just stop making music after 1994, and several great albums they made tend to go ignored. These would include hidden gems like Panzerfaust, Ravishing Grimness, and the band's final salvo of "True Norwegian Black Metal", 2004's Sardonic Wrath.
The album plays like a final showdown, with some of the bands finest grooves and riffs packed into just over 34 minutes of Black Metal fury. And yes, as some people have said, there are very subtle hints about where the band was headed. After a spooky, dark-ambient intro, the band breaks right into "Information Wants to be Syndicated." Hm, that doesn't sound like a Black Metal song at all does it? If I didn't know better, I'd think Discharge or Conflict made it up. And on songs like "Hate is the Law", the shift is very evident in the music as well (it even has gang vocals in the background!).
Though I don't mean to say Sardonic Wrath isn't Black Metal, it most certainly is. All the elements of classic Darkthrone are here: the menacing atmosphere, the buzzsaw guitars, throat-scratching vocals and the haunting lyrics. Again, Sardonic Wrath merely hints to a new direction, whereas 2006's The Cult is Alive would see the genuinely radical shift in style.
In an interview about the album, Nocturno Culto openly addressed the fact that he and Fenriz had begun to let Darkthrone's style evolve:
If you make a comparison between Sardonic Wrath and Hate Them, you will see that Hate Them was based on typical Black Metal riffs, but on Sardonic Wrath we combine both Black Metal riffs with Rock n’ Roll and Heavy Riffs – all and all this new album is a quite diverse and interesting package…I believe that Sardonic Wrath is the perfect example on how much you can experiment with riffs and different sounds, and still make the final result sound Black Metal.
After creating eight black metal albums (and one very underrated death metal release), it was only a matter of time before Darkthrone's sound had to move forward. Though I'm sure there are plenty of readers ready to say "they should go back to the TR00 Black Metal sound and never experiment or change ever because that would never get boring!!! – I would maintain that Darkthrone's earlier sound is so special and valuable BECAUSE they didn't beat it to death. Making A Blaze in the Northern Sky: Part Duex, This Time It's Personal! may sound appealing at first, but it would only degrade the value of the original classic.
Though the entire album is fantastic, the real gems of Sardonic Wrath sit in the middle with "Straightening Sharks in Heaven", "Alle Gegen Alle" and "Man Tinker Sitt" all right in a row. In three flashes of brilliance you have some of the most engaging, well-structured compositions the band has ever written. Oh, and by the way – there's also a song called "Sjakk matt Jesu Krist", which literally translates into "Checkmate Jesus Christ." I feel like the entire Black Metal movement could have started with that and just walked away.
And with a long, plodding slog of howling and distortion, "Rawness Obsolete" closes Sardonic Wrath. Thus ends the longest chapter in the legendary band's history and leaves the way clear for a new, stripped-down incarnation of the Darkthrone legacy. Any album after that would have to either fall under "Essential Crust-Punk Listening" or "Essential Heavy Metal Revivalist Listening."
I'll keep Dark Thrones and Black Flags in mind, should the moment arise.
