Origin : Norway
Genre : Black Metal
Release : 2001
Album downloads only available to members
Album Info / Review
**Darkthrone – *Plaguewielder***
*LP (released 1989) – Black Metal / Death‑Metal*
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### 1. Sound
From the first decibel the record plunges straight into a frigid wasteland of distorted guitars, relentless blast‑beat drums and guttural growls that feel as if they’re being dragged through steam‑blackened exhaust pipes. There’s no auto‑tuning, no post‑production polish – each guitarist’s tone is mumbled, almost conversational, as if the amps were on the brink of failure. The bass shudders under its own weight, adding a heavy edge to the low‑end, but does not cut through; it nests in the mix, repeating the rhythmic patterns of the guitars instead of standing apart.
### 2. Atmosphere
The atmosphere is claustrophobic. Negative space is abundant, but it’s not silence; it’s the low, almost bypassed hiss of a studio forgotten by the budgets. A persistent sense of dread lingers, amplified by the constant barrage of pitch‑shifting riffs and the quake‑like percussion that lurches unpredictably between proper beats and fast bursts. Recordings feel like a radio crackling from a black‑metal bunker – the less clarity, the more your mind fills in the gaps with imagined horrors.
### 3. Riffs
Riffs: sparse, largely diatonic, favoring the orthogonal minor scale. The opening line on the title track moves in a sweeping, narrow fifth motion that keeps hammering the same phrase. The middle of the track vents into a dissonant wall of power‑chords that feel claustrophobic because they don’t resolve; abruptly shifting to a thin, piercing power-chord that does not lean into a conventional harmony. A great illustration of “less is more” far removed from the heavy grooves of later works. The second track, “Middleman Death,” sinks into a descending arpeggio that feels almost like a river of needles.
### 4. Production Quality
Production is famously lo‑fi: muted levels, worsened by the very low sample rate a band can afford, with the drum kit’s snare clanging as if over an alleyway echo. The choice of a single on‑board mic might cut cost, but it reverberated a lot more than needed. The distortion seems to thrive in the record’s bent and proprietary “3‑A” stage. The opera of anatical screaming is not exactly mic‑source captured but more the repetition loss, producing a hissy effect that can be uncanny. No mixing desk, no Dolby – just a humble mixing board and a flip-over tape that surgical bleeding is an intentional effect.
### 5. Overall Impression
*Plaguewielder* stands as a pivotal speck in the black‑metal narrative because it doesn’t try to be polished. It embraces indifference to studio polish just as passionately as the subsequent 1990s black‑metal recordings. Because of that raw energy, a good portion of it feels almost more brutal, lifelike, how nested. People who’re through with high‑fidelity and believe that the best kind of sound is first‑hand skill or rawness will connect instantly. In reporting in *Metal on 5*, the EP is a recorded card of the next-hit that came from 80s. Something to have in the back of the memory.
