Darkthrone is one of the most famous Norwegian metal bands that has been around for over 30 years.
And for such a significant period of time, many changes have taken place within the framework of the project. The musical duet managed to work in different genres, experimenting with sound.
Starting with death metal, the musicians switched to black metal, thanks to which they became famous all over the world. However, in the 2000s, the band changed direction in favor of old-school crust punk and speed metal, thus surprising millions of "fans".
We invite you to familiarize yourself with the biography of this Norwegian team, which has come a long way.
Early stage of the Darkthrone band
Most listeners associate Darkthrone with black metal, in which the musicians managed to achieve incredible success. However, the duet began its creative path long before that.
The first steps were taken back in 1986, when a group with the gloomy name Black Death appeared. Then there was the popular extreme genre of heavy music, death metal, which was widely represented on the Scandinavian scene.
So young musicians began to work in this direction. At that time, the group consisted not only of the immortal leaders of the Darkthrone group Gylve Nagell and Ted Skjellum, but also of several other members. The line-up also included guitarist Andres Risberget and bassist Ivar Enger.
Soon the band had their first demos of Trash Core and Black is Beautiful. After releasing these two compositions, the musicians decided to change the name in favor of Darkthrone. After that, Doug Nielsen joined the team.
In this composition, the group released several more records that attracted the attention of music labels. This allowed Darkthrone to sign a contract with Peaceville Records. They contributed to the recording of Soulside Journey's first full-length album.
The record was radically different from everything that the Darkthrone group played subsequently. The recording is sustained within the framework of the classic death metal of the Scandinavian school. But soon the ideology of the group changed dramatically, which led to a change in sound.
Black metal era
After the release of the Soulside Journey album, the musicians met Euronymous. He became the new ideological leader of the Norwegian underground.
Euronymous was at the head of his own black metal band Mayhem, which was becoming popular. Euronymous created his own independent label, which allowed him to release albums without outside help.
Supporters of the black metal movement of Euronymous became even more. Its ranks included members of such cult bands as Burzum, Immortal, Enslaved and Emperoir. It was he who contributed to the rapid development of the Norwegian metal scene, paving the way for dozens of talented musicians.
Soon they were joined by musicians from the band Darkthrone, which led to a change in the genre in favor of aggressive black metal. The group refused to perform "live". And also began to hide their faces under makeup, later called "corpspaint".
Only two people remained in the group - Gylve Nagell and Ted Skjellum. Having come up with sonorous pseudonyms, the musicians began to create the first black metal albums.
Over the years, several records have been released at once that have changed the image of Norwegian underground music. Under a Funeral Moon and Transilvanian Hunger became the canons that many aspiring musicians of those years were guided by.
The sound on these full-length albums was in keeping with the concepts of the genre in which the band had been playing for over 10 years. During this period, Darkthrone has become a living classic of black metal, influencing dozens of well-known bands around the world. However, the genre metamorphoses did not end there.
Darkthrone's departure towards crust punk
By the mid-2000s, when black metal was going through a protracted crisis, the band decided to radically change their image. For many years, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto hid behind makeup, filling their creative work with mystery.
But already in 2006, the musicians released the disc The Cult Is Alive. The album was created within the framework of crust punk, and also included elements of classic old school speed metal.
Also, the musicians stopped hiding their faces, appearing in the photos of the booklets in their usual form. According to the duo, the decision was driven by their personal fondness for 1980s music. Fenriz and Nocturno Culto grew up with the music of these genres, so they always dreamed of recording something like that.
The opinions of the "fans" were divided. On the one hand, the album attracted an army of new fans. On the other hand, the group has lost some of the orthodox black metalists who are closed to the new.
Despite this, the musicians continued to develop the theme, releasing a number of crust punk albums, abandoning black metal concepts. The Circle the Wagons album featured clean vocals. And in the collection The Underground Resistance there were songs in the genre of traditional heavy metal of the British school.
Darktron group now
At the moment, the Darkthrone duo continues its active creative activity, delighting fans with new releases. Unlike their colleagues in the Norwegian black metal scene, the musicians no longer hide behind make-up, leading an open life.
Musicians are not burdened by contracts that oblige them to keep within certain limits. Musicians have creative freedom, releasing albums when the composed material is brought to perfection. This allowed the band Darkthrone to stay at the top of Scandinavian extreme music for many years.
