Total Death

To point out the role Darkthrone had in the Norwegian black metal scene is superfluous, and reviewing their string of early-to-mid-90's classics almost feels like a sterile, pointless writing exercise (even though I might still do it at some point in the future, if I feel like I have something notable to say about them). But what about the albums that came right after? Darkthrone's mid-era is criminally underrated in my eyes, and the albums released around that time (particularly, between 1996 and 2001) don't seem to enjoy a very favorable reputation among the metal audience. That's a shame, really: those have always been some of my favorite entries in Darkthrone's vast, eclectic discography, and to me they still qualify as part of the band's classic black metal era - bearing most of the same traits that made me love their previous efforts, albeit of course with less innovative value compared to those. "Total Death" probably is the album that gets the most shit out of all, and while I've always found it marginally inferior both to the four records that precede it and the two that come after (which I consider to be some of the band's most underrated, poignant artistic statements ever), it still deserves its fair share of re-evaluation, unveiling the secret formulas and the overlooked strengths it possesses.

But first, some context will be needed: we're in the middle of the 90's and the Norwegian black metal scene has blown up worldwide, leading to an undesired wave of clones and trend-hoppers. This doesn't sit well with many of the scene's pioneers, especially Darkthrone's hectic drummer Fenriz - who by that point was already fed-up with the whole circus the black metal scene had become in the wake of the events occurred in 1993. It's known for a fact that, around that time, Fenriz had started distancing himself from the black metal circle altogether, getting more invested in the underground thrash and punk scenes, which in his mind still kept a deeper connection to his beloved 80's metal roots compared to all these last-hour Norway-aping acts. That may have also played a role in the change of the band's songwriting approach from "Panzerfaust" onward, getting increasingly closer to a more crude, immediate riffing style in the vein of Hellhammer/Celtic Frost compared to the blasting, borderline-avantgarde droning of "Transilvanian Hunger" (which by that point had been co-opted and standardized by countless imitators) - and "Total Death" sounds like the ultimate synthesis of this more overt old school approach. In Fenriz's own words: since their shift to black metal back in 1992, Darkthrone never had any ambitions about the originality of their work; they just wanted to pay tribute to the old school gods of the first wave, making music more as a polemic statement (against 90's trends) than a purely artistic one, aiming to fill a void that was present in the scene at the time concerning a certain style of metal. But it's perhaps around the mid-90's that Fenriz started to use Darkthrone as an instrument to make polemic statements against the black metal scene itself (an approach that would culminate with the band shedding its own skin once again on "The Cult is Alive", a decade later). One needs to look no further than the track "Blasphemer" (an all-out, ultra-raw 80's thrash metal number, complete with pounding, delightfully sloppy skank beats and super-old school riffs taken straight from the "Infernal Overkill" playbook) to see that - but honestly, that same approach can be heard (if a bit more subtly) on all the songs on "Total Death".

Nocturno Culto came back as a songwriter after a few years of inactivity ("Transilvanian Hunger" and "Panzerfaust" were all written by Fenriz), so songwriting credits on this record are split 50/50. By that point, Fenriz was getting sick of melodic fast stuff: the last shreds of the "Transilvanian Hunger" sound had all been exhausted on "Panzerfaust" with the last two tracks made in that style, and now our beloved Gylve was mostly focused on making slow, plodding Celtic Frost numbers. That's the case as well on "Total Death", with opening and closing tracks "Earth's Last Picture" and "The Serpent's Harvest": those are some of my favorite songs from this record and from the band's entire repertoire, bearing some intensely dark, epic, menacingly slow riffage that (in spite of its blatant Tom G. Warrior inspiration) feels highly memorable and unmistakably Darkthrone in its peculiar evil vibe, which is even more palpable here than on some of the slower tracks from "Panzerfaust" (which felt more like a purely atmospheric, contemplative work than a genuinely "evil" one, as typified by the epic masterpiece "Quintessence"). And still, despite the Celtic Frost-inspired nature of these two songs, some of Fenriz's previous songwriting tendencies do still pop up in small measure, with more of those blasting, long-winded, eargasm-inducing tremolo melodies carrying the usual epic atmosphere that made past albums such genre-defining masterpieces. These fast melodic sections are placed in the second halves of each song; I especially consider the one from "Earth's Last Picture" to be one of Darkthrone's greatest riffs of all time - being one of the best, most thrilling syntheses I've ever heard between the trademark evil, pitch-black atmosphere and the epic, kinda tragic feeling which form the backbone of Norwegian black metal as a style when put together. This one riff is honestly as beautiful and memorable as anything from "Transilvanian Hunger", and it also features what's probably the best guitar-bass interplay I've ever heard in black metal. However, the tremolo melody of "The Serpent's Harvest" is brilliant as well, in its bittersweet, melancholic, sorrowful yet still kinda sinister feeling; it's a shame Fenriz later disowned this kind of riffs as being "not real black metal", as they are some of the best ones he's ever written.

However, it's Nocturno Culto that takes care of most of the fast stuff on here, as he would do for most of the band's career from this point on. Worth noting is that Nocturno's fast riffs are definitely more straightforward and minimalistic compared to Fenriz's long-winded, deeply layered melodies from this and previous albums - and yet, they still feel just as delicate, rich and intensely atmospheric. Songs like "Gather for Attack on the Pearly Gates" are textbook examples of conveying a lot with seemingly minimum effort, with three-note riffs so stripped down that they don't sound too far removed from their original prototypes heard on Bathory's seminal third record (another sign of Darkthrone drawing straight from their old school sources instead of what had become at the time the "established" black metal sound) - and yet at the same time so incredibly atmospheric and evocative that they sound impressive even when put side-to-side with previous records, which generally needed more elaborate (albeit still minimalistic) melodic ideas in order to get the same kind of result. "Total Death" is as pure and unabashedly old school as the band had ever sounded up to that point, offering a fantastic blend of typical Norwegian black metal atmosphere and primal 80's metal/punk rawness. Perhaps the only case where the album's overt minimalism becomes a bit too much for its own good is "Blackwinged", which is honestly not a very memorable track if you ask me.

On the other hand, "Majestic Desolate Eye" and "Ravnajuv" hypnotize the listener with some of the simplest, yet most haunting, trancelike motifs the band has ever come up with: since the first time I heard this album, I think these near-archetypal melodies have seeped into my subconscious and have sedimented more and more with each and every spin since then. The whole record is infused with a rather peculiar, crepuscular, "lunar" atmosphere (faithfully to its original artwork, far superior to the Peaceville reissue), fully epitomized by the "Ravnajuv" track - Nocturno Culto's best song on this album, and another first-tier highlight of Darkthrone's repertoire. The band wouldn't sound like on "Total Death" ever again: perhaps due to a change in chord shapes used for the riffs, from "Ravishing Grimness" onward, songs would bear a generally more "concrete", stripped down feel compared to the unreal, impalpable, otherworldy vibe of this record - and that's what truly makes it one of a kind in Darkthrone's discography. Interestingly enough, Nocturno Culto's ultra-reductionistic yet evocative approach bleeds into one of Fenriz's tracks as well - that being, "Black Victory of Death", perhaps the first fully-fledged "black 'n' roll" song ever written by Gylve for the band: a bouncy, up-beat metal/punk affair bearing that very same kind of haunting, spacious riffing, further emphasized by a breath-taking acceleration near the end (another fantastic choice later regretted by Fenriz, ouch).

To wrap it up: don't sleep on this album, don't buy into its generally unfavorable reputation. Give "Total Death" repeated spins and let its desolate, haunting atmosphere grow on you: it's really worth it, I swear. This album blends the contemplative, trancelike approach Darkthrone experimented with on previous two albums with an even more pronounced old school metal/punk sensibility (emphasized by the rather raw, stripped down mixing). It's the beginning both of a more introverted, depressing era for Darkthrone (that would culminate on next two albums "Ravishing Grimness" and "Plaguewielder") and their departure from the over-abused Norwegian sound they had contributed to create in favor of an increasingly more "first-wave friendly" approach. I have a friend who's very much on the "80's defender" side, and a few years ago, by doing a binge-listening of Darkthrone's entire discography, he found out that "Total Death" was actually his favorite album by them. I kinda see his point.

When you think Darkthrone, you think of the Unholy Trinity. It's not a bad thing - the influence those three records have had on the metal and punk underground is inestimable, from sound and style to production and visual aesthetics. And of course, many of us also consider Panzerfaust a sort of "honorable mention," equal to the big three in quality and merely separated from them by time and visuals.

Generally at this point the band is seen as hitting a lull, their next few albums having neither the singular black focus of the previous few nor the revelrous headbanging energy of the later material. I'd say, though, that Total Death is just as good as those records that came before it. Listen at midnight, gazing either at our moon or at Charon on the cover, to understand why.

It is, to be sure, a more primitive record. This was a tendency beginning to emerge in the band's work already; A Blaze in the Northern Sky and Under a Funeral Moon still retained some of the compositional complexity from the band's death metal days, while Transilvanian Hunger and the aforementioned Panzerfaust stripped the sound down more and more. This leaves nothing for Total Death to grasp onto except the fiercest, most foul corners of the band's style.

Some of the riffs, especially on "Blackwinged," do bring back an OSDM sound, with their chunky low-end power chords and chromatic tremolo leads. Elsewhere, though, songs like "Gather for Attack on the Pearly Gates" and "Ravnajuv" are all icy black metal with melodies to rival "Natassja in Eternal Sleep" or "En vind av sorg." Carrying each track through are Nocturno Culto's most bitter howls, the sound of pure evil channeled through a ruptured larynx.

I'd be remiss not to mention that many of these songs feature lyrics by co-conspirators, much in the same way that Varg Vikernes had written lyrics to several previous Darkthrone tracks. Though the oft-mythologized "Black Circle" has been discussed to death, it is valuable to remember that for a time this was a fairly close-knit cadre of like-minded musicians, committed to the true black metal underground. This collaborative spirit serves as an excellent reminder of this history, and it benefits the songs greatly.

The back of the CD case says it best: "Darkthrone plays Unholy Black Metal Exclusively - The Envy of Loosers (sic) We Piss On." Total Death is still the envy of pissed-on losers and fourth-rate imitators today.

Panzerfaust is sometimes seen as the point where Darkthrone began to lose it. Maybe that's true to some extent, but there were more than enough solid riffs on it to excuse its faults. For many others, it's the following album, Goatlord, where the masters fell apart. But even then, I don't think that's true; Goatlord is a fiendishly underrated album for what it is. if it gets a bad rep, it's only because it dared to be odd.

No, it's at Total Death where we start to hear the legacy of Darkthrone show its wear. Fenriz was notoriously prolific during this period, and it's clear by this point he had spread himself out too thin. Total Death arguably doesn't have glaring issues like the two albums that came before, but it also lacks inspiration, the likes of which that made said issues worth the trouble on past efforts. Considering this band's obsessive devotion with passionate authenticity, it is sobering to hear Darkthrone make an album that isn't all that stimulating to begin with. This is what happens when a creative juggernaut loses its steam. Nothing is technically out of place, but the sudden drop in quality with Total Death all but marked the end of their classic period as far as I'm concerned.

I wouldn't say it's fair to go comparing Total Death to the "unholy trilogy" Darkthrone had put out a few years before, but some differences are worth mentioning. A Blaze in the Northern Sky, Under a Funeral Moon and Transilvanian Hunger all had unique personalities to them. For the most part, Total Death feels like another step in the direction of Panzerfaust. It's the work of a band who can't settle on a style for their album, so they've tried to be all-inclusive. There are parts here that sound like they were dredged up from doom lake, and lots of others that pay tribute to their influences: Hellhammer and Bathory, to name a couple. As Darkthrone's clearinghouse album, I think Panzerfaust ultimately found a personality on the basis that a lot of the more traditional sounds had not been heard from them before. Of course, come Total Death, Fenriz's stockpile of ideas had dried up. Again, he was probably too prolific for his own good at this point.

The retreading throughout Total Death is structurally similar to past Darkthrone, but it comes off as fairly dull. There are great moments here however, and just enough to make the album worth recommending to fans. The best parts of Total Death are closest to the simplicity on Transilvanian Hunger. "Ravnajuv" could have fit on that album and been no worse for wear. The band makes great strides with slower riffs here as well; "Earth's Last Picture" and "Blackwinged" have some grizzly riffs and appropriately feral vocals to boot. At it's best however, Total Death only ever seems to ape past albums. For a band that had several classics under their belt already, this is to be expected, but it is disappointing to see them having cashed it in so fast. The one innovation the album has to offer Darkthrone's history is arguably the production. Although the execution is still leagues from the inspired coldness of Under a Funeral Moon, it has the kind of solid mix I would like to have seen on Panzerfaust.

I think Darkthrone are one of the few bands that could make gold from any style they touched, but if they'd actually been inspired with this album, I'm sure a more consistent direction would have come out of it. These guys are always at their best when they immerse themselves fully in a single aesthetic. That's part of the reason their shift to crust punk was so successful; they eased into it like they'd never known anything else. Total Death has some great moments, but ultimately it doesn't sound like they knew what they wanted to make of it.

Darkthrone have managed to reinvent themselves over and over again and "Total Death" does not constitute an exemption. The barrenness of the outer space artwork had not much in common with their previous covers and the first track also pointed in a then new direction. The grandeur of the mightily hammering opener showed a previously unknown side of the Norwegian duo. To create a majestic aura was a challenge that the band mastered in a glorious way. Nevertheless, I had to get used to the mid-tempo approach that welcomed me. Of course, "Panzerfaust" had already been less speed focused than its ultimately furious predecessor. Anyway, a mid-paced opener surprised me. An album which was titled "Total Death" seemed to promise another song design. But Darkthrone did not only concentrate on mid-paced pieces (and the strong opener itself picked up speed after three and a half minutes).

Rawness and ugliness still played an important role. Icy leads and high velocity parts also belonged to the significant components. The well implemented combination of these two elements led to the highlight of the album. "Gather for Attack on the Pearly Gates" scored exactly with these ingredients, although its belligerent atmosphere was worth mentioning, too. This also followed from the production. The track - as well as the further pieces of the first half of "Total Death" - was equipped with a grim and hateful sound that had nothing in common with any kind of rehearsal recordings. Unfortunately, the somewhat dotty dudes recorded the album during two sessions. As a consequence thereof, the second half of the album did not benefit from a proper mix. Darkthrone went back to the roots, but these roots were rotten. Rattling drums - the snare drum seemed to suffer from asthma - and blurred guitars prevented a vigorous appearance of the songs. Due to their lack of power, a further speed hammer like "Ravnajuv" failed to blow the listener away. This was a pity, because this track actually possessed everything that a raw black metal eruption needs. Its merciless leads and the hostile vocals shaped a further highlight of the album. Despite the catastrophic production, the song was on an equal footing with the more meticulously produced "Blackwinged".

Irrespective of its minor stylistic changes, the foundation of "Total Death" consisted of pure black metal. Song titles like "Blasphemer" underlined the compositional approach and its malignant aura was a further hint. Apart from questions of style, Darkthrone did not present any type of filling material. During the 35 minutes of this album, the necessity of the skip button does not become obvious. Well, some might say that "Total Death" lacks of spectacular ideas, but I do not care. Instead of trying to revitalize the formula of "Transylvanian Hunger" one more time, Darkthrone just released a fine collection of tracks. Those of you who do not always need a powerful production may add five or ten percentage points.

Following critically acclaimed releases like Transilvanian Hunger and Panzerfaust, the next Darkthrone album had a lot to live up to. Unfortunately, Total Death didn't seem to live up to those standards and many will argue that it's the first album of the crappy mid-era Darkthrone. Total Death is still a pretty good album on its own terms because it is a lot different than their previous albums and thus shows off more what the band is capable of. Also, most of the lyrics here were written by people not in the band. You can expect a lot of diversity in ideas between tracks and that holds to be true.

Total Death indeed sounds like a Darkthrone album. If you were to take their entire discography and pick out what can be defined as the average Darkthrone song, that is, a blend of everything they've done, you'd probably get something like what's on Total Death. The music as a whole keeps its raw nature, offering simple guitar riffs, competent enough drumming, and always the deep and bitter shrieks performed by Nocturno Culto. There isn't anything particularly deep in the songwriting and if you can take a guess at where the song is going to go next, you might be right.

The worst aspect of this album may be the lack of atmosphere, at least compared to previous albums. Panzerfaust put me in a grey world with bitterly freezing winds, while Transilvanian Hunger made me envision a dark forest. Blaze in the Northern Sky made me imagine a dark winter sky in weather that completely numbed you and Under a Funeral Moon had a unique, dark, ritualistic feel. I don't get any of this in Total Death which is a shame because the atmosphere is what drew me into Darkthrone in the first place. I can't really use my imagination for most of these songs when I listen to them.

Fortunately, some of the tracks really save the day. 'Blasphemer' is incredible! It's strongly thrash based with simple but extremely catchy riffs. It feels like something I've heard in older bands but the song always feels fresh to me. Nocturno Culto's harsh, abrasive vocals also kill on this track - the performance adds an entirely new level of quality in the music. Another good track is 'The Serpent's Harvest.' This one can start off a bit laggy, but it does show a great deal of Darkthrone's melodic side once you get to the middle. This wasn't something I was expecting so easily. None of the tracks are really that weak - they're all kind of average. If you like one, you might like the rest.

Despite the lack of a strong atmosphere and intricate song writing, there are some decent surprises in some of the tracks, as well as the album itself. Sure, a lot of it is still predictable, but there's nothing too offensive or disappointing in that respect. Total Death is an album that will probably be remembered most for having so many song writing contributions from non-members. It's one of those albums that Darkthrone fans will buy but leave in their collection for a while until they suddenly get an urge to remember this album and listen to it again. Total Death is by no means a bad album, but doesn't hold that same fire as Darkthrone's stronger works. Most of the material on here is at least worth listening to.

I don't know if I'd exactly say that Darkthrone gave up here, but this is a pretty lazy album, and probably the first in the band's career where that word could be used as a descriptor. Even the sort of hasty, seemingly slapped-together 'Panzerfaust' had more energy behind it than this one- a sort of needful impulse to it that defined all of Darkthrone's work. With every other Darkthrone album up to this one, it feels like that band really WANTED to release something extreme, unusual, and interesting; they were driven by a passion to create. On 'Total Death' they seem to be driven by a passion to churn out another album and call it a day. Defend it however you will, but farming off the lyric-writing duty on this album to different celebrities in the black metal scene doesn't bode particularly well for the overall presentation of the album.

While it's hard to say that Darkthrone's essential style is lost on this album, it definitely feels as though the edges have been rounded off- the songs on this album are much closer to modern ideas of 'standard black metal' than Darkthrone ever were up to this point in their career. The riffing style is a very stripped-down, evened out mixture of 'Panzerfaust' and 'A Blaze in the Northern Sky', bouncing between the melodic tremolo picked strains of 'Transilvanian Hunger' and a more overtly oldschool, Celtic Frost style of crunch riffing. Much like the previous album, the tracks on this one are clearly divided between melodic and raw, and as a result the album falls prey to the same problems as 'Panzerfaust'- it feels like a weird, uneven compilation of tracks. The more overt problem with these riffs, though, is that they're simply not memorable, which is a huge hit against the band- the melodic riffs aren't particularly gripping and the Celtic Frost inspired riffs sound like bland rehashes of 'A Blaze in the Northern Sky', without any of the dark, subtle undercurrents which made that album so great.

It feels more repetitive, too, or perhaps not repetitive but transparent. The songs all move in very obvious directions- there's no structural surprises or complexity to be found, and a lot of that occult atmosphere Darkthrone worked so hard to cultivate has been lost in favor of a much more generic sort of darkness. I don't get the feeling of menace and magic from this release as I do from previous albums, even weaker ones like 'Panzerfaust'- this is very clearly the work of a band simply going through the motions to make another album. On top of the general lack of inspiration involved in this album, there's a lot of minor problems: the songs are too similar, the production is very flat, the vocals aren't very engaging, among numerous others. All in all, the album isn't unlistenable in any way, and on occasion stumbles onto a pretty neat riff or musical passage, but overall it just doesn't stack up to Darkthrone's impossible to replicate early career.

I guess this is basically the beginning of the end for Darkthrone in my mind (though some of their mid-era material is certainly worthwhile), and it probably is for a lot of other people as well. 'Total Death' is the first Darkthrone album that just doesn't have much personality, which is something the band has always had for better or for worse. Everything up to this point in the band's career I could comfortably recommend, but from here on out, it's a lot of 'fans only' albums. This is the first.

Rather expectedly Darkthrone’s black metal era had to run out of steam at some point, and though, Panzerfaust is often given the derisory title as a “leftovers” albums - as if to denote it somehow lacked the power of the band’s earlier work, on the contrary it might well be the best thing they ever did - it is actually Total Death which shows a lack of the vision and, well, the focus and drive of their past works. Yet still, this is a wholly listenable album… but the lukewarm praise I can give Total Death only goes to show a further point; this is the band’s first unessential album. When listening it only becomes readily apparent that this while being quite good is actually quite shocking for being so (again, giving moderate praise makes just heightens the sense of a letdown). When compared to previous triumphs, as is so painfully necessary, Total Death just seems to be the epitome of a gentle letdown, fading out into - dare I say it - more generic black metal territory.

Firstly, what strikes me most about this album is the reigned-in and comfortable vocal performance from Noculturno Culto. It has been stated in interviews that the vocals on Panzerfaust were recorded in one day, whilst Noculturno was completely drunk or pissed-up on booze… and the results are quite clear for anyone to hear. And to me that’s the brilliance of it; you’re forced into an position with those vocals - especially considering the album’s mix - and you have to choose: love or hate. There’s not much of an in-between and, for me, the spirited and deeply dramatic performance is just phenomenal. The album couldn’t have had better, really, it’s just one the many factors that make Panzerfaust such a mandatory album - even if it is somewhat unheralded, in places. Total Death, however, has a solid, unremarkable performance from Mr Culto; not the annoying careerist, “look at my clean vocals” shite like, say, mid-era Emperor as it’s still pleasant. Rather it appears that by being a sort of neutral factor and not being within the realm of a “making” or “breaking” the album it actually does “break” the album in a sense… just by stressing its own unessential nature. I guess raving fandom can produce a weird scenario where being simply good can actually be something’s death-knell.

Furthermore, as one would expect from a two-piece, it’s very obvious that Fenriz has burnt himself almost completely, as his drumming is pedestrian by his standards. It’s not because of its comparative simplicity - as that never hindered the previous two Darkthrone albums - it’s just, once again, a lack of mettle. Though, if you’ve heard Sardonic Wrath you’ll know that an exciting drum performance won’t ever save a bland album, so if anything, we should count our blessings that there are some decent songs on this album. Fenriz’s own, ‘Blasphemer’, with its name harkening back to the embryonic days of German thrash and - predictably - it being a thrashy song is one of the album's strongest. However, I do feel it could have been far greater - given a sharper production job and a bit more spirit. Again, this isn’t a slovenly, piss-weak album and I can’t ever claim that… but you just wish that Darkthrone regained the spirit (or is that spirits?) to find something of their menacing vitality here.

Truth be told, with Total Death it’s very easy to get hung-up on the band’s past glories but I don’t wish this album sounded more like Panzerfaust, honestly, as its actually at its blandest when it goes for the Celtic Frost worship on closer, ‘The Serpent’s Harvest’. Whereas ‘Hordes of the Nebula’ was crushing this one finds itself as sort of stinted… the same nigh-on inescapable inertia that hangs over a great deal of this album. Again, not bad, and try as they might this or its rather similar follow-up Ravishing Grimness aren’t bad records. If anything it goes to show how good Darkthrone had been at this point as even when they’re burnt-out, lazy and picking up the pieces of their past work they’re still wholly listenable. However, that said, this isn’t a magnificent record and I can safely assume that casual fans of the band won’t be too enthused by this, so I can’t rate it any higher regardless of me being quite able to listen to this in its entirety. Still, Total Death will always reside in the shadow of a glorious mish-mash that somehow became a holistic and iconoclastic piece in its own right, shame really. But I won't be losing sleep over it, that's for sure.

What’s the phrase? Ah, “one for the fans”. That’s it.

When looking at Darkthrone’s career during these last twenty-two years, one is easily tempted to categorize their albums based on the epoch when they were released. The first four are almost always considered masterpieces – which is fully justified, by the way – while the subsequent albums, starting slowly with Panzerfaust but really getting there with Total Death until about eight years later and the band’s newfound ability to mix punk and black metal, tend to be considered bland, uninspired and a kind of unfortunate era of stagnation for Darkthrone. While some of those albums are a bit weaker than the band’s best and some are cheapened versions of what they were meant to be (i.e. Goatlord), almost all tend to be underrated and nowhere is this unfortunate truth more apparent than in the band’s sixth opus of blackened music, Total Death.

Total Death is almost every bit the album that its two predecessors were, surprising the listener with an unrelenting assault of high-quality, complex black metal. The sound here is still undeniably raw, but the mixing reaches a new level, more profound than on albums such as Transilvanian Hunger. The objective is evidently not the same here, with the band aiming to create a unique atmosphere mixing the black metal atmosphere of the last few albums with a certain reminder of the band’s more death metal origins. The death metal influence is indeed present here, in the back, subtle, but definitely there, be it through the aforementioned production value or the quality and style of the riffs, the drumming or even the bass playing. Alongside this there is also a slight thrash influence in the structure of certain tracks, giving the album a certain feel akin to the blackened thrash of other bands, all while keeping the unmistakable Darkthrone sound and aesthetic.

This album distinguishes itself by having a lot of recognizable and downright awesome riffs strewn all around the place. This is apparent from the very beginning of Earth’s Last Picture, one of the very best Darkthrone openers ever, starting with a unique drum-based intro before the guitars kick in full force, presenting the first of many excellent riffs to be found here. Nocturno Culto’s guitar playing has evolved tremendously from the much more minimalist style of the Transilvanian Hunger era which, timeless though it was, couldn’t support any band for their whole career. Darkthrone needed to find a new niche for themselves and this is perfect. As if the first three and a half minutes of the opener weren’t badass enough, they felt the need to slow everything down to a crawl just for a subsequent kick in the listener’s teeth with a new epic riff, one of the most powerful in the band’s entire career, creating a memorable atmosphere which readies the listener for the rest of this beast.

The rest of the album then proceeds at varying speeds; that is, varying around the general theme of the fast kick-ass song. Fenriz’s drum work is very enjoyable here, as he abandons the heavy repetition preferred on the previous albums for a much more involved approach, working at fast speeds most of the time and using a much more varied style, which I’ll stop short of calling technical, just very original and refreshing. Another element which came as a surprise on this album is the bass, which can actually be heard, and well! This is particularly true of the final song, the slow doom-oriented The Serpents Harvest, an excellent way to finish an album, linking the end with the slightly slower beginning. Nocturno Culto’s vocals here are his staple sound, that black metal rasp which is unique to him. The ideal level of the production allows his vocals to soar a bit over the instruments, giving the album a truly unique feel in the band’s discography.

Naming highlights here is rather pointless, as all the songs are great, all have inspired titles to them, and they all go very well together to ensure this album’s resounding success. In the end, if forced to pick one, I’d have to say that the opener, with its never-before-seen structure and amazing riffs, probably counts as the best song on here. The lyrics are some of the best this duo’s ever written, rarely have lyrics been so damn scornful and dark, just evil in a casual, everyday way, fitting perfectly to the album. One final element which adds the last bit of glory to this album, making the bridge between the atmosphere of nothingness and scorn evoked in the music as well as the lyrics, is the artwork. The cover is dark, desolate and just a vast landscape in space, well-suited to the album in question. It’s a perfect expression of lifelessness as well as a subtle throwback to the artwork of Soulside Journey, an album which is also slightly hinted at here in the chilling, dark death metal influence of Total Death. This is one great masterpiece of a black metal album, complex and dark at will, and certainly one of the best things Darkthrone ever did, which is saying a lot.

Total Death was the second album Darkthrone released through Moonfog Productions, and again we are faced with a minor re-invention of the band's sound, in particular the production. I have to admit this is one of the best mixed albums in the band's history, full of deep, resonant tones that add an extra layer of darkness to the band's already morbid aesthetic, a rich and fertile sea of evil which seems perfectly reflective of the album's cover image. The guitars are a thick and powerful morass of chords which rock hard whether they are channeling Bathory or Hellhammer. This album also marked a shift in how the band would write songs, with Fenriz performing drums and bass, and Nocturno Culto adding guitar and bass to his vocals. In addition, only half of the lyrics are written by Nocturno Culto (none here by Fenriz). For the remaining tracks, the band called upon the talents of their friends Ihsahn (Emperor), Satyr (Satyricon), Garm (Ulver) and Carl-Michael Eide (Ved Buens Ende). While the subtle differences are noticeable, all of them manage to do a little justice to this beloved band, though Fenriz is simply better in all cases.

Once the raging central rhythm to "Earth's Last Picture" arrives, you get an instant flashback to Blood, Fire, Death, because the song sounds like it would fit right in there, aside from Culto's more cryptic vocal style and the occasional lapses into squealing groove and huge, sludged out chords. If Quorthon and Tom G. Warrior had ever formed a band together, this might have been the result, and the nebulous darkness of this album's atmosphere only adds to the punch. It's a bloody awesome song, from the roaring verse riffs to the hooky chorus with its higher pitched chords. "Blackwinged" is like a high speed blackened shoegazer surf anthem, it's beautiful verse rhythm akin to the crashing of cold waves upon a rocky shore, and the shift to the bridge a wonderfully submersed grinding across a bare minimum of notes. When the track slows at around 2:30, it yet again visits the glorious pacing of Bathory. "Gathering for Attack on the Pearly Gates" features a familiar Transilvanian Hunger pace, but though the opening riff leaves something to be desired, credit should be given to Nocturno Culto, whose vocals really make the track until it swerves into the better pre-chorus, and eventually to a kickass, driving hyper-Hellhammer rhythm.

'Souls of christ, prepare for fight
We'll crush your halls with bonecrushing
might supreme!'

"Black Victory of Death" is amazing, another Darkthrone victory in which the duo proves that you only need two good riffs to really nail a track. When they hit the second, over the cruising drum beat, they yet again evoke their dark Swiss godz, but it is the dark and winding majesty of the opening guitar rhythm which really sells this. "Majestic Desolate Eye" is even better...one of the most glorious Darkthrone tracks ever and probably my favorite on this record. A driving, powerful rhythm churns into a languid, rock break, while the vocals cascade across like an extraterrestrial conqueror ordering his armies to attack Earth, and then the band erupts into a venomous blasting rhythm that delivers another beautiful payload riff, pretty chords simmering atop its climactic 4th count. That is does this all in just over 3 minutes is nothing shy of joy... "Blasphemer" twines about a good old school violent thrash rhythm, with an increased fuzz to the distortion, and an amazing bridge rhythm which creates a beautiful marriage with Culto's bloodsoaked vocal torture. "Ravnajuv" is pretty good, with a desperate woven melody that brings back the Transilvanian Hunger material, same pace and just a variation of two rhythms, though the track does break down near the climax. When summed up, this chunk of Total Death is honestly among the best material the band has written, but it doesn't last.

I say that because I find most of the closer, "The Serpent's Harvest" a bore, with a grooving ooze doom riff that tires me out after only a few repetitions, and the first change in riff does very little but speed it up. The creepy, almost Wild Western melodies of the bridge are quite nice, but they arrive a little too late to save the remainder of the track, and in the end, this is the major reason I don't rate the album higher.

In the end, Total Death is pretty damn good, though not one of their best overall efforts. The use of guest lyrics was a nice touch, but they're not Fenriz (or Culto), and there is at least the one song which doesn't really impress me ("The Serpent's Harvest", and a few segments of some others). That being said, if I were to create a compilation culled from all the band's albums, "Majestic Desolate Eye", "Blackwinged" and "Black Victory of Death" would likely fine a place there, and this is well worth the money for any ardent Darkthrone fan regardless of your favorite phase in the band's career.

Highlights: Majestic Desolate Eye, Blackwinged, Black Victory of Death, Earth's Last Picture

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Living in the past is something that too many seem to be content with, and no clearer of an example of this can be articulated than the religious devotion that many have to the Peaceville black trilogy that made Darkthrone a household name amongst adherents to the Norse black metal movement of the early 90s. This attachment has led to the blanket dismissal of a lot of good music as a result, which is nothing short of absurd, particularly given the number of quality albums that this band and others have put out since. One of those is the very different follow up to “Panzerfaust” dubbed “Total Death”, which sees the band continuing to distance themselves from the once innovative but rapidly becoming dogmatic trappings of the beast they’d created in “Transylvanian Hunger”.

Many are quick to point out the reestablishment of a Celtic Frost/Hellhammer character on this album, something which was heavily present on the two earlier offerings within the black trilogy in varying degrees, but not in this manner. There is still a lasting influence of the band’s droning, blasting minimalism that came to a climax in 1994, but it now is made to compete with a much larger amount of thrash and doom elements. The presentation is somewhat theatrical, both because the production has been smoothed out due to the guitars taking on a much mellower and warmer character, while the bass and drums are much more prominent and heavily ornamented with reverb, and the vocal presentation is dark and sinister rather than haggard and frostbitten. In fact, the dark yet more otherworldly character of the sound is almost like a lower fidelity and blackened version of the band’s death metal past, albeit without all of the technical gymnastics.

Ultimately, this album functions as a simplistic, yet varied rebuff to those who wanted this band to pigeonhole themselves into a one-dimensional sound or die off after recording a mere 4 or 5 albums, and a much needed one at that. It reasserts the fact that in spite of the primitive nature of this variant on the style, it is still capable of being multifaceted. Songs such as “Earth’s Last Picture” and “The Serpents Harvest” brilliantly combine a slower and denser doom element into their twisted narrative format, while also making time for some thrash sections and droning melodic sections that are familiar to those who loved the previous 3 albums. There is something of a Celtic Frost nature to the presentation in some respects, but what is accomplished here is a bit more progressive and a bit more aggressive than anything than that band ever conceived of back in the early to mid 80s when they were putting out classic, venomous heavy metal.

There are often complaints about the lack of participation by Fenris in the lyrical and instrumental aspects of this album, which is something that I personally view as a good thing. As much as I like Fenris’ lyrical and compositional efforts, he basically became all but a one trick pony when he dominated the arrangement on the previous 2 albums. Nocturno is the more proficient guitarist, as anyone who has heard “Soulside Journey” will obviously know, and is thus more capable at putting together quality and varied riffs. Fun blackened thrash songs like “Blasphemer”, which reminds me a little bit of some material off of Manilla Road’s “Out Of The Abyss” actually, and the classic “Black Victory Of Death” would not have been possible with Fenris playing the guitar. There aren’t any solos to ornament the songs on this album, but Nocturno’s keen sense of riff construction makes them all but unnecessary.

Though this will undoubtedly be a controversial opinion to hold, I think that “Total Death” is the best album that this band put out during their Moonfog era, and also a more involved and quality work than that of “Transylvanian Hunger”. It’s loaded with well constructed, clearly defined songs that reasserts a generalized take on black metal’s potential, rather than focusing exclusively on one or two aspects. It is very different from most of what they’ve done, but it is still well within the standard parameters of the genre and doesn’t veer anywhere near the crust punk and rocking material that the band would start to delve into later. In short, this is the last true black metal album put out by the band, and one of their greater works. So ignore the cult of 1994 in this particular instance and experience a slightly more colorful take on things, with an excellent album cover to match it.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on May 15, 2009.

After releasing several infamously unrefined and massively influential Black Metal albums in the early 90s, including the classic “Transilvanian Hunger” in 1994, it was only inevitable that Darkthrone would eventually issue an album that would tarnish their own progressively increasing legacy. “Total Death” perhaps solely represents a trace of mediocrity within their otherwise thriving discography.

The band’s second album for Moonfog Productions (the label run by Satyricon main man Satyr), “Total Death” was also their first release since their inception not to feature guitarist Zephyrous in the line up, hence reducing them to the duo of Nocturno Culto on guitars, bass and vocals and Fenriz on drums. Not surprisingly, throughout the album, it seems apparent that the loss of Zephyrous led to the greater loss of creativity and general brilliance in terms of musicality. Tracks like “Earth’s Last Picture” and “Gather For Attack On The Pearly Gates” seem to drag on without direction and this develops into an almost overriding theme throughout. The guitar arrangements in particular are far simpler and more repetitive in comparison to the spiteful and intricate sounds of previous album “Panzerfaust” for example, and so this monotony only adds to the aimless feeling throughout.

Furthermore, although Darkthrone are renowned for their notoriously bad production, there is something quite amiss with the sound on “Total Death”. Indeed, the production is terrible, but not in the ‘classic’ way expected from a Darkthrone album. Previously, their harsh, garage-like sound has fuelled the primitive nature of their style of Black Metal but on this release it almost seems as if the band have tried to somehow develop both their playing and production methods. Quite frankly, this change of direction was problematic, as it was entirely unnecessary. The overall mix is simply shambolic and allow the new tracks very little chance of acceptance amongst their fans. However, amongst this mess, there are indeed still signs of a band who have not entirely drifted from their past, with some fantastic melodic parts scattered through tracks like “Black Victory Of Death” and “Ravnajuv”.

Put simply, Darkthrone are not supposed to represent progression or advancement; they are the Black Metal fan’s reliable lot and are plain expected to release practically the same record again and again. Perhaps this is a narrow-minded approach but, quite truthfully, this album is proof of a failed attempt to diversify - something which Darkthrone themselves have never attempted since.

Originally written for http://www.blastwave.co.uk

After releasing the mighty Panzerfaust, Darkthrone released this album. It's not as immediate as the first 3 as this takes some time to get into I must admit(for me anyway.) The riffs are cold, yet not icy or minimal as in Transilvanian Hunger and not evil as in A Blaze.... The songs are short, mostly around 3 minutes or so, with the occasional 2 and a half minute one. The vocals seem distant and the drums are mixed just a tad too high, but that certainly doesn't damn this album. During the blast sections, the music all seems to blend together, creating a wall of noise if you will.

The first track, Earth's Last Picture, really stands out. It has a nice, menacing main riff and at the break a speed picked riff comes in which really adds that sense of minimalism to this, but this is mainly it. Another highlight is The Serpent's Harvest, the last song on here. It's got a nice slow, chuggy riff at the beginning, then goes into an all out ball crusher riff about a minute into it. The lyrics for this album were written by some of the leaders of the Norwegian BM movement, including Ihsahn of Emperor and Satyr of Satyricon, although which person wrote which lyric I am not sure.

All in all this is a decent BM record, but not really a good Darkthrone record. It's got its moments, but those seem to be few and far between.