This article is about the norwegian black metal band. For the MMORPG, see Dark Throne.
Darkthrone is a highly influential Norwegian black metal band formed in 1986. They began as a technical, jazz-influenced death metal outfit under the name of Black Death.
Recording under the Black Death moniker, the band released several demo cassettes throughout 1986, (Fenriz performed the vocals on the Land of Frost, A New Dimension and Thulcandra demo tapes) and were subsequently signed to Peaceville Records on a four album contract. After changing their name to Darkthrone, the band released their first full length album, Soulside Journey. The album was cleanly produced in a technical death metal style characterised by progressive song structure, complex drumming patterns, and fast, accurate riffing. Soon afterward, Darkthrone adopted the aesthetic style that would come to represent the black metal scene, wearing corpsepaint and working under occult or nordic pseudonyms. At this point, bassist Dag Nilsen left the band (but still played, listed as "Session Bass", on their next album A Blaze in the Northern Sky). Darkthrone subsequently recorded and released the seminal black metal album A Blaze in the Northern Sky, which was strongly inspired by the works of Bathory and Celtic Frost. Peaceville Records was originally skeptical about releasing the album due to Darkthrone's diversion from the death metal style.
The band delved even deeper into the black metal sound with the their following album, Under a Funeral Moon, which has since established itself as a landmark for the genre as a whole. It was followed by their quintessential masterpiece Transilvanian Hunger, which is generally regarded as Darkthrone's finest work, although the band itself regards it as being a rather untypical Darkthrone record. All of these early black metal albums were characterised by raw sound, extremely low fidelity recording quality, and musical simplicity. Darkthrone remain a powerful force in the black metal genre, although they have experimented with their influences over the years.