Panzerfaust

What could have been...

Let's just say this, gang. This album missed being the best Darkthrone album (or even the best Black metal album) because of a very simple detail: THE VOCALS!

Argh! As much as I love Ted and his voice on most albums, I can't really fathom why he chose a Barbaric vocal style for this album. The vocal styles that he did on the previous albums were superb, but what happened here? Was it because of the producer, or mixer? I don't know, but whatever it was, it sort of ruined a perfect album!

That said, Ted's Barbaric vocal style works really well with some of the more thrashy songs, like "Triumphant Gleam", or the doomy effort of "The Hordes of Nebulah", but I just can't relate the over the top vocals for the more melancholic, monotonous tracks, like "En Vind av Sorg" or "Hans Siste Vinter".

Anyway, enough of the rant, let's get to the album.

The most important strength of this album is the RIFFS! God damn, Fenriz was at his peak at that time. Someone who listens to this album will not forget any of the riffs here. They are UNFORGETTABLE!

And it's not like all the riffs are similar or whatever, they are not even in the same style (or even the same hemisphere!), while songs like "En Vind av Sorg" or "Hans Siste Vinter" continue in the same vein as the previous masterpiece (Transilvanian Hunger) by having a repetitive and melancholic approach to the riffing (which I'm sure was inspired by Burzum / Von in the first place), other songs are purely inspired by 80s Thrash, late 80s Death metal or even 70s and 80s Doom metal.

The other forgotten strength about this album is the drumming. People just seem to forget how great a drummer Fenriz is, how much attention he gives to the drumming. The drumming on this album is his best in my opinion (even when its monotonus and primitive!).

As for the bass, thanks to a better mixing, we can hear it. They are not Fenriz' best work to be honest (that would be his work on Isengard!), but it's still nice that they can be heard! Needless to say, all in all Fenriz kills it on this one. A variety of perfect riffs, with a great recording sound.

Best song? Throw a dart at any of 'em, because they are all fantastic, however; "The hordes of Nebulah" and "A Wind of Sorrow" are my personal favourites.

We must not forget about "Snø og Granskog (Utferd)" either, which is easily one of the best outros on any album! It's funny how a song with so little can be so soulful and perfect.

And of course, another thing that makes this album sinister is the name Count Grishnackh on the booklet! I know it's not that important, but seeing satanic lyrics written by a man that always alluded to stuff like that is really cool!

The last thing to add is the cover art, which is a bit underrated (as people usually remember the corpse paint cover arts), but this one is really cold and memorable.

All in all, if it weren't for the vocals, this would have been a 99% or even a 100%. Even so, the riffs and the whole package are so perfect, that I can't accept it being lower than any of its predecessors. It's still a classic! Hail Fenriz!