Heard of this lot, course you have. Another month and more from the ever prolific duo of Fenriz and Nocturno Culto who are both represented with this reissue of their sixth album and the latter with his s(n)ide project Sarke. Calling this album ‘Total Death’ might have confused some people when it came out in 1996, had they gone back to the modus operandi of debut album ‘Soulside Journey’ and dispersed of their ‘Transilvanian Hunger?’ Well there band were pretty much embodying facets of both black n death by now as they had illustrated on previous album ‘Panzerfaust.’
Peaceville have backed this up with another one of their Fenriz and Nocturno’s director’s cut bonus discs, which is very enjoyable to listen to and get beneath the music. The most memorable song is no doubt the first ‘Earth’s Last Picture’ which you must have heard somewhere or other. The strident guitar cadences give it a real jagged edge and as Fenriz states there is plenty of worship here to both Celtic Frost and Bathory. The lyrics to this one were written by Garm and others were penned by Ihsahn, Carl-Michael Eide and Satyr. Fenriz wrote none and is confused but may have played the bass; amusingly stating “but a monkey could play the bass!” It has to be said that when Nocturno Ted takes up the commentary on ‘Blackwinged’ he does not seem quite as at ease as Fenriz, more pragmatic than such a wit about things.
The pace of the album is pretty damn fast and feral in approach, songs like ‘Gather For Attack On The Pearly Gates’ illustrate the duo at their most tempestuous. Considering what else was coming out of Norway around then it was very much the true black metal style being represented as a fist to the face in contrast to albums that were coming out in a more avant-garde vein. Fenriz refers to ‘Black Victory Of Death’ as his first black n roll number and it certainly grooves away like a bastard and is one of the albums standout tracks. Apparently the album was recorded in two parts, spring and autumn, on vinyl this would have been represented by the two sides. ‘Blasphemer’ is one of the better songs of the second part adopting a more thrash laden approach. It has a real black thrash vibe and despite the fact Fenriz states he can’t drum this style for shit it has the energy to pull it off.
This is not my favourite Darkthrone album by any stretch but it is very indicative of the time and an album that any completist needs and with the extra disc it is all the more interesting. It does actually sound dated but then again a new Darkthrone album pretty much does that too. It’s amusing as ‘The Serpent’s Harvest finishes with a totally horrible solo that ruins it according to Fenriz and I love the way he is their harshest critic here. My main complaint would be the different artwork but I guess it does have a certain stark charm.
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