When it came, like black smoke across the pallid sky, no-one was prepared. We had heard the black metal vibrations from past bands, but little did we sense from the death metal-orientated debut 'Soulside Journey', that Darkthrone would go on to become the leaders of the most evil black metal noise known to man, true warriors of the Norwegian discipline from the grim snows and falling, long shadows.
'A Blaze...' first reared its head to me on a Peaceville Records sampler cassette and the the gurgling incantations spewed that same filth as Bathory's stuffy 'The Return', and as the guitars ripped into 'In The Shadow Of the Horns' there was the unsettling feeling that a caustic, enveloping wave had hit the shores and things would never be the same again.
Metal fans were being bombarded by the grunge scene and just getting over the crunching death metal fad, but no-one expected such a nasty, overwhelming scene as black metal to re-emerge with such a vengeance.
Darkthrone hit the headlines, their interviews as vicious as the snarling vocals that screamed from this cesspit of a record. Many so-called metal fans ran for cover, others truly turned their noses up at such a guffaw, but deep down they all took note that black metal was alive, sweeping through the forests, a sinister pack of wolves at the door, an eerie vocal disharmony, truly wicked lyrics and a grating, bass-bereft sound so harsh and cold that only the frozen hills of Scandanavia could hold it.
Those who have appreciated the vile velocity of 'A Blaze...' have described the record as something akin to shutting ones eyes and being taken by complete pitch darkness. And that's the best description of a movement that, although like so many others became over crowded, remains so potent in the folklore of metal, and standing goat head and shoulders above the rest are Darkthrone, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto, creators of one of metal's most putrid and hideous records. There is nothing blacker.
Hail!
8.5/10
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