A DARKTHRONE post and the new OLD STAR album

Darkthrone has announced that their new album Old Star will be release on May the 31st by Peaceville Records. I immediately pre-ordered the black LP edition as soon as the e-mail got to me.

Without any doubt Darkthrone is clearly the band after Marduk that takes up most space in my entire collection of LP's and CD's. Here in this post is my Darkthrone studio album vinyls.

Excluded all the compilation, EP and 7” releases. Some of my records are 1st prints but many reissues especially the ones that are crazy expensive nowadays.

My vinyl collection is based on having the cover artwork from the original CD/LP release. It's not that I dislike all those Peaceville LP reissues that completely alters the cover artwork. But I only want what I grew up buying even if not all covers got changed by Peaceville.

For the 2 x CD releases with audio commentary by Fenriz and/or Nocturno Culto I don't care about the artwork though.

Those CD's are definitely something any die-hard Darkthrone fan should own because they are very informative and entertaining.

There's also some minor color changes on the ones I have. Goatlord is probably the one that differ most from the original CD release on Moonfog Productions in 1996. That one has a much brighter blue color. It wasn't released officially on vinyl until 2002 though and Moonfog changed to a much darker color.

2 years ago on my Instagram account I began to rank all the Darkthrone full length albums. The task proved more daunting than expected so I only did 2 or 3 posts.

Mainly because after my top-6, that I still 100% back up, it gets too difficult. Some bands records are extremely hard to put in order from best to “worst”. Darkthrone being one of them Burzum being another example.

Anyway if someone is interested my top-6 now and then:

1. Panzerfaust (1995)
2. A Blaze In The Northern Sky (1992)
3. Under A Funeral Moon (1993)
4. Transilvanian Hunger (1994)
5. Total Death (1996)
6. Ravishing Grimness (1999)

If I had to pick a 7th one it would be divided between so many records it's not worth mentioning. However when we get closer to the release of Old Star I might go in depth with these 6.

Ever since Old Star was announced I been lost in a total Darkthrone music phase. My go to albums aren’t those 6 albums on the list except for A Blaze In The Northern Sky and Total Death. Have heard all those 6 records to death but those two I have been listening to very much lately also been into:

Plaguewielder (2001)

Nocturno Culto composed all music except for 1 song. A total gem!

Hate Them (2003)

Always liked this one so many amazing songs & riffs.

Goatlord (1996)

Hesitated to include it among their studio albums. Everyone should know the story behind the 1996 record. Still a very unique Darkthrone release.

Dark Thrones And Black Flags (2008)

This one is brilliant and one of their most underrated records.

Arctic Thunder (2016)

Such a great one I really hope they will top this with Old Star.

2 months feels very far away from now but I can’t wait to hear what Fenriz & Nocturno Culto will deliver this time.

FLEURETY - MIN TID SKAL KOMME (1995)

On a vinyl reissue from Peaceville that was just recently released. Originally released in 1995 on CD by Aesthetic Death Records and Misanthropy Records that at the time of 1995/96 released brilliant records by Burzum, Arcturus, Ved Buens Ende, In The Woods etc. just to name a few.

This is the the 2nd LP release of Min Tid Skall Komme. The first vinyl was released in 2008 that one has a bonus LP with the songs from their demo Black Snow (1993) and the 7" EP A Darker Shade Of Evil (1994) and is limited and numbered to 600 copies.

A real nice release but I really like that the Peaceville LP kept the original CD cover artwork unlike the 2008 one. There's been a bunch of different cover artworks for the reissued CD's if I'm not mistaken.

Min Tid Skal Komme was one of those records that would sit on the CD shelves in one of my local record stores for years. I had listened to it once but didn't get the greatness of this masterpiece right then and there.

With the concept of 5 songs in approx 45 min and tracks that were 12,5 min long it's kind of hard to get the right feeling in such an environment. With those bad headphones in at a commercial record store (not just for Metal) and for such a "complex avantgarde Black Metal" band as Fleurety one needs to be at a better space.

It might have been in 1996/97 I first heard/saw the Min Tid Skal Komme CD but maybe not until 1998/99 that I actually picked it up. Believe the store discounted the price to around 99 kronor which were a good price I thought.

My Black Metal taste had also evolved during those years especially with albums like the masterpiece La Masquerade Infernale (1997) by Arcturus. The brilliant Heart Of The Ages (1995) by Into The Woods... or another excellent one Written In Waters (1995) by Ved Buens Ende.

Fleurety had started playing 1991 in the small village Ytre Enebakk located southeast of Oslo.

The founding members were guitarist/bassist and also vocalist between 1991 to 94 Alexander Nordgaren (later live guitarist with Mayhem 1997-98) and drummer/keyboard player also current vocalist since 1994 Svein Egil Hatlevik (Strid ex. Dødheimsgard). Both were only 14 years at the time of 1991.

The first demo was released in 1993 had 3 songs and was called Black Snow although not a good name for any release it's not a bad demo. On that one Nordgaren called himself Varg and Hatlevik took the name Nebiros kind of funny because one doesn't exactly think of Fleurety with those names. The music goes from slow paced to straight forward Black Metal with a great instrumental song in the middle.

Already in 1994 they put out a first official EP release called A Darker Shade Of Evil. Both songs Profanations Beneath the Bleeding Stars also appeared on the debut demo. It's like the demo alright but nothing spectacular the vocals are hideous. Actually Alexander Nordgaren permanently damaged his vocal chords. I can hear why!

In 1995 the 1 song called Absence appeared on the 2 x CD  compilation Blackend: The Black Metal Compilation Volume 1 with already established bands like Emperor, Marduk, Mayhem, Satyricon, Samael etc.

Kind of funny how many bands got misspelled like Flevery but Fleurety wasn't the only ones we also got Impaled Nazarine, Unaminated and Ved Buensende.

The song Absence, the demo and the EP all appears as extra songs on the 2008 vinyl of Min Tid Skal Komme on Aesthetic Death Records. All except the demo on a Candlelight Records CD reissue from 2002.

Let's finally get into their debut album Min Tid Skal Komme. One can definitely hear that the guys had gotten inspiration from the excellent Ved Buens Ende demo from 1994 called Those Who Caress the Pale for this record. Even if their own song Absence was an indication on where they were going it's more evident on the album It's not like a copycat version of Ved Buens Ende I think Fleurety has their own sound on this record.

Also speaking of Ved Buens Ende both Carl-Michael Eide (bass) and Vicotnik (vocals) from that band (and a ton others) were recruited as live musician for Fleurety in 1994. I'm not sure how many gigs that combo played together?

I've only seen 2 songs over at YouTube where they do an alright live cover of the Mayhem classic Freezing Moon with Vicotnik on vocals. While on My Resurrection In Eternal Hate Alexander Nordgaren does the vocals.



Anyway I think that Min Tid Skal Komme was not promoted enough by Misanthropy Records I only remember ever read any interviews with Fleurety in fanzines.

Also just as many of their label mates like Ved Buens Ende and Into The Woods... ahead of their time. The music although rightly labeled Black Metal it got all sorts of influences but just saying it's avantgarde isn't enough. They use an additional female vocalist on the album which adds lots to the songs.

Can only say that you got to pick up a copy for yourself of this gem of an album.

What became of Fleurety after this one I'm not going to ever write about but lets just say it wasn't and isn't my cup of tea.