Hole 93

Darkthrone - A Blaze In the Northern Sky (1992)

Winter is here, which means it’s time for some black metal to reenter the listening rotation. My pick for today is a classic from the so-called “second wave” of black metal. That album is A Blaze In the Northern Sky by Darkthrone. This thing is probably one of the rawest, and most downright evil-sounding albums ever made.

For those who don’t listen to much black metal (and the second-wave stuff in particular), one of its oft-defining features is its distinctively raw and atmospheric lo-fi production, coupled with extensive distortion of the instruments (typically limited to just guitar, bass, and drums). In practice, this means that each contribution seems partially to melt into each other, producing this writhing, pulsating whole, through which the tortured vocalist’s pronouncements pierce, ominously.

This gives it a heaviness distinctive of black metal, rather than any other kind. It’s a kind of heaviness that makes you feel like you have been plunged unassumingly into a deathly cold night, a swirling hailstorm whipping relentlessly against you.

This album is, in my view, a perfect introduction to this sound. It has all of what you want as far as black metal atmosphere and production without straying too far into the even more sinister, bleak, repetitious, and atmospheric songwriting that would come after it, both in subsequent black metal and in Dakrthrone’s following two albums.

This album brings the black metal atmosphere but with the primal vitality and riffs of thrash and death metal (or even punk). Indeed, most of these songs involve what could almost be described as a (often rapid-fire) series of ‘beat-switches’— a phenomenon in hip-hop where the beat changes mid-song (e.g.)—where the riff suddenly switches to something slightly, or wholly, different. This keeps things interesting both by introducing novel elements and grooves, but also by satisfying interplay between them, and an opportunity for dynamics. This makes the sound both more available to the uninitiated, and more consistently interesting.

Compliments must be paid, in this regard, to the guitarists, whose all-encompassing playing, visceral tone that makes their instrument sound like buzzsaws (though not as much as later black metal would manage to do this), and tight riffing make up the bread and butter of this album’s snowstorm. This is to say nothing of the drummer, whose relentless, disciplined, pounding seamlessly joins forces with the guitars. At points, they sound more like a heavy machine gun than they do drums.

The same could be said of the vocals, whose evil exhortations complete the dark aesthetic. If vocals like these don’t typically do it for you, try and think about what it must take a human to produce, and sustain, the sounds you are hearing. The affect and exertion on display is, by itself, a technical achievement. (Unfortunately, part of the cold, blasting aesthetic of black metal means I can’t even hear the bass player, who, I’m told, does exist, and is playing.)

My favourite two songs are probably In the Shadow of the Horns and Where Cold Winds Blow. The former is probably the most ruthlessly aggressive and single-minded track on the album, with thunderous drums sounding like an avalanche. The latter, Where Cold Winds Blow, starts with this bone-chilling scream that you’ll hear throughout the song. More than any other, the vocals here sound like a vicious wind personified, whipping through the snowstorm of the guitars.

Must be played at a certain (moderate-to-loud) volume to be enjoyed, as it cannot be listened to quietly, lest it sound like a broken TV.

- Rowan

Recommended Songs: In The Shadow of the Horns, Where Cold Winds Blow, A Blaze In the Northern Sky

Listen: Bandcamp, Spotify, YouTube

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