In 1986 Darkthrone rose up from the darkness, brought to life by Gylve Nagell (drummer), Ted Skjellum (guitars/vocals), Ivar Enger (guitars) and Dag Nilsen (bass). Under this line up the band released 3 demos, Land Of Frost, Thulcandra and Cromlech before signing to Peaceville Records in a 4-album deal. 1991 saw the release of Darkthrone's debut album - Soulside Journey, recorded at Sunlight Studios, Sweden. Later in the same year the band got to know Euronymous, who was a main figure in the growing black metal scene. He apparently impressed the members of Darkthrone so much that they changed their sound, agreeing with Euronymous that the death metal scene had become too 'trendy'. Sadly Dag Nilsen wasn't into this new direction and left the band shortly after recording the bass for their second album, 'A Blaze In The Northern Sky'. The remaining three members changed their names to Fenriz, Nocturno Culto and Zephyrous and with this, the second album was released. The album saw a whole new blacker than black Darkthrone, new names, new sound and highly visual black and white artwork. Fenriz claimed 'This is the new Darkthrone, the old Darkthrone is dead'. 'A Blaze In The Northern Sky' was an example of what was to come in terms of modern black metal. In other words, this was the trendsetter. For the next year or two the black metal scene in Norway grew, and with it plenty of controversy. In 1993 Darkthrone emerged again with a new album 'Under a Funeral Moon' which was labelled by the band as 'True Norwegian Black Metal', apparently because there was not a single death metal riff to be found in the music. The album was recorded with low sound quality and continued the already infamous black and white artwork theme (the band would never use colour again!). The album was simply another black metal masterpiece, which stunned the metal scene. In 1994 the world was introduced to one of Fenriz' side projects, 'Isengard'. In this guise he released the album 'Vinterskugge' on Deaf Records, a subsidiary of Peaceville, but was later housed on the actual Peaceville label. The CD only release was made up of three demos 'Spectres Over Gorgoroth', originally released in 1989, 'Horizons', originally released in 1991 and 'Vandreren', originally released in 1993. This side project was a mix of doom/rock/black/death/folk music. In 1994 'Transylvanian Hunger' was released and had the last 4 of the 8 songs written by Burzum main man Varg Vikerness, who later achieved infamy when he was tried and found guilty of murdering Euronymous. Stranger still, Euronymous introduced Darkthrone to Varg. This release had the lowest sound quality heard to date and was the most harsh 'thing' any one had ever heard. Controversially at the end of the song 'As Flittermice As Satans Spys' the phrase "In the name of God, let the churches burn" is played backwards. The CD also had a phrase on the back - "Norsk Arisk Black Metal" which the band claims meant True Norwegian black metal, this phrase caused a lot of heat as many people interpreted the word Arisk as Aryan, resulting in the following statement from Fenriz. 'We wish to state that 'Transylvanian Hunger' is beyond criticism, and any man who attempts to do so should be thoroughly patronised for his obviously jewish behaviour'. This obviously made matters even worse, Peaceville were not amused, resulting in band and label issuing separate public apologies. The band tried to explain that in Norwegian the word jewish simply meant 'idiot' and was in no way meant as a racial insult. Peaceville found the explanation utterly unconvincing, and after the albums release band and label parted ways. It was after this that Darkthrone started to write their music in Norwegian and said they would only work with fellow Norwegians. This they did and joined the Norwegian underground label, Moonfog. In 1995 the album 'Panzerfaust' was released on Moonfog, as before heavily influenced by Celtic Frost, Hellhammer etc. One of the songs had lyrics by Varg again. Towards the end of recording the CD, band member Zephyrous disappeared from the scene, no one knows where to or what has happened to him, all we know is that he is still alive and was present at the last Darkthrone gig in 1996. Still in 1996, and Darkthrone released the album 'Total Death' which had no lyrics written by Fenriz at all, instead lyrics were provided by the likes of Ihsahn (Ulver) and Satyr etc. in other words other big names in the Norsk black metal scene. The music sounded like the first two black metal albums Darkthrone had released thus proving popular with the fans. In the same year Fenriz popped up briefly to play bass for Dødheimsgard's debut, with Nocturno Culto doing guitar duties on the Satyricon album Nemesis Divina, under the guise of 'Kveldulv'. He also played live with the band something Darkthrone very rarely did! Later on in 1996 'Goatlord' was released, via Moonfog. This was originally recorded in 1991 during the transition Darkthrone made from death metal, to the black metal sound. Most of the lyrics on this album were taken from the Under A Funeral Moon release, and saw Fenriz singing in a strange voice who some believed to be female. The release featured Satyr on guest vocals. In 1997 Nocturno Culto left the black metal scene, which meant that Fenriz was the only person left in the band. and a dark veil fell over Fenriz as he disappeared into the night.... It was decided a tribute to Darkthrone would be released in 1998, entitled 'Darkthrone Holy Darkthrone'. Nocturno Culto and Satyr chose the 8 Norwegian bands to appear on the tribute, apparently from a list of bands that have been heavily influenced by Darkthrone. The bands then in turn chose a song each and went away to make their own unholy versions. In mid 1999 word arose that Darkthrone were back, and the scene rejoiced. Confused, not knowing what to expect, they were hungry for more, and in October 1999 'Ravishing Grimness' was finally unleashed to the hordes, and did not fail to please. With the album being compared to Transylvanian Hunger and A Blaze in the Northern Sky, Darkthrone was clearly back and proved they are a force that should NEVER be under estimated. Although Darkthrone's recent releases had been through Moonfog, the band never lost contact with their original label Peaceville. In 2000 this resulted in both band and label working closely together again on a Darkthrone retrospective from the Peaceville years, entitled 'Preparing For War'. The album contained a collection of classic Darkthrone tracks : some rare, some new, some old. Also with new artwork, lo-fi black and white as of old. A kind of thank you to fans, from both parties for the continuous support. 2001, and Darkthrone returned with their next studio album, in the shape of 'Plaguewielder': Six tracks of ever uncompromising black metal. Additional vocals on the track 'Command' was provided by Apollyon of Aura Noir and Sverre from Audiopain. The album was recorded at Studio Studios (also used to record Ravishing Grimness) and was engineered by Dag Stokke. It was 2003 by the time Darkthrone's next album surfaced with the bluntly titled 'Hate Them'. The electronic introduction and ending were created by Lrz from Red Harvest, who also handled engineering duties on the album at Pan Lydstudio. The entire album was recorded AND mixed in only 26 hours, in December 2002. At around this time, Fenriz was in contact with Peaceville about the prospect of releasing a compilation of inspirational tracks, which helped shape his passion for metal music. He had wanted to do such a project since 1994, originally with the prospect of an old thrash metal compilation. However, it was decided that it would be appropriate for the first of the series to be Fenriz' definition of 'The Best of Old-School Black Metal', featuring the essential tracks that shaped the genre by bands such as Venom, Bathory and Celtic Frost, as well as a couple of newer bands such as Nattefrost and Aura Noir. The CD was released in September 2004 and was dedicated to Bathory's Quorthon, who died shortly before the release of the compilation. 2004 was to be a busy year for both members of Darkthrone, as we saw the birth of their new label, in conjunction with Peaceville Records, called 'Tyrant Syndicate Productions'. The first release was to be by the Norwegian band, and friends of Darkthrone, Aura Noir, with their own brand of blackened thrash metal. This came in October 2004 in the form of the album 'The Merciless'. This was also the year of Darkthrone's first live appearance in 8 years, as Nocturno Culto joined forces with members of Satyricon to headline the Wacken festival in Germany. Fenriz chose not to participate in the show. 2004 also saw the release of Darkthrone's eleventh album, and final one for Moonfog, 'Sardonic Wrath'. This time, the band was integrating a few more obvious punk and rock influences into some riffs, mixed with the ever-present, raw, black metal feeling. The album was once again recorded and mixed by Lars Klokkerhaug, who had previously worked on 'Hate Them'. The session was completed in 5 days. Guest vocals came courtesy of Apollyon from Aura Noir, on the track 'Hate Is The Law'. The cover artwork was designed by the Italian artist Lorenzo Mariani. In 2005 Darkthrone waved a spectral goodbye to Moonfog & re-joined forces with their original label Peaceville Records. The move made perfect sense as the unholy alliance was already working well together on the Tyrant Syndicate label. The first rotten fruit of this union is a Special LIMITED Edition box set of 'Preparing For War'. This highly anticipated release comprises of 2 CD's and a DVD and comes in a clam box, complete with poster & booklet containing an in-depth interview with the band, conducted by UK journalist James Hinchliffe. This release IS ONLY AVAILABLE ONLINE a link to buy can be found on the front page of the Peaceville website. Hurry while stocks last. To kick off 2006, January saw Darkthrone launch a three pronged attack on an unsuspecting world. First they released their first ever single 'Too Old, Too Cold', containing three exclusive tracks, one of which, a cover of 'Love In A Void' by Siouxsie And The Banshees, has to be heard to be believed. Next up is their highly anticipated twelfth album: 'The Cult Is Alive'. Both releases were recorded with the minimum time and fuss at their own studio, 'Necrohell 2'. Rounding things off nicely, Darkthrone release their first ever promo video for the track Too Old, Too Cold., as you would expect; the video is suitably lo-fi. Darkthrone will NOT be coming to a town near you, not now, not ever.