For this eternal winter, a new god ruled the sky – 100%
Slater922, May 14th, 2021
Written based on this version: 1992, CD, Peaceville Records (Limited edition)
The year was 1992. Black metal was truly starting to become the genre it is with bands like Immortal and Burzum releasing groundbreaking albums that set a certain standard for the new genre. But during this time, there came a band named Darkthrone. They were originally a death metal band that released a decent death metal album named “Soulside Journey” just a year ago, and now they were going to experiment with this new genre with their next album titled “A Blaze in the Northern Sky” with the help of Euronymous from Mayhem. It just seemed silly at first, especially since a lot of black metalheads at the time hated death metal, and thought that Darkthrone was gonna make the genre another trendy commercial sellout. It wasn’t until the album actually released, however, that it blew people’s minds, and got them the respect they truly deserve.
So what made “A Blaze in the Northern Sky” so special? Well one fantastic thing about the album was its instruments and production. Now distortion wasn’t something new in black metal. Most black metal albums at that time were using it as a standard. However, none of them at that time used it in the way Darkthrone did. Starting with the track “Kathaarian Life Code”, it begins with some deep growling with a slow beating drum playing in the background. This sets in the dark and creepy atmosphere, and it won’t be until the rest of the instruments kick in that the sound truly shines. The guitars play some really cold and harsh riffs, and its brutal sound is executed further with its high distortion. The drums also have diverse beat patterns that ranges from fast and chaotic to slow and technical. The bass is also virtually unheard of in the final mix, so the guitars are having to do most of the bass-work, and its more rhythmic composition lays a good foundation to most of the tracks. Highlights of the instruments would be “Kathaarian Life Code”, “In the Shadow of the Horns”, and “The Pagan Winter”, since they execute the distorted and cold atmosphere the best. The instrumentals on this album utilize the distortion brilliantly, and the guitars would provide some cold and brutal riffs that would revolutionize black metal.
The instruments may be great, but another great thing about the album would be the vocals. Nocturno Culto would do the main vocals on this album, and man does he absolutely kill it here. His voice has the high shrieks of most other black metal albums at the time, but he includes some harshness in them, so his personality is more abrasive and enraged. A good example of this would be in the track “In the Shadow of the Horns”. The track’s slower and more technical coldness is perfect to Nocturno Culto’s chanting shrieks. He also enhances the atmosphere even further, as his shrieks have a genuine grating and hoarse tone in them that give the instruments a more raw sound to it. Fenriz would also do some vocals for the intro/outro and some of the spoken word portions of the tracks. Fenriz crazy growling in the intro/outro sounds bestial and fitting to the dark atmosphere, and his spoken word portions have chants that sound epic and fit well to the epic stories he talks about. While I do slightly prefer the vocals on their next album “Under a Funeral Moon”, Culto and Fenriz’s vocals are still excellent and set the stage for the bitter atmosphere of the tracks.
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