DARKTHRONE Plague Wielder (2001) CD

Darkthrone spent most of the nineties making black metal that sounded like it was recorded inside a collapsing Norwegian church, and they never once apologised for it. By the time Plaguewielder landed in 2001, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto had stripped the project down to something even more skeletal, a meditation on filth and atmosphere that made Transilvanian Hunger look polished by comparison.

This is the original release digipak issue, which matters. Plaguewielder sits in a specific chapter of the Darkthrone timeline, post-commercial-black-metal-peak and deep into the band's most uncompromising, deliberately lo-fi phase. "Weakling Avenger," "Raining Murder," "Command" — these aren't songs so much as weather events. If you're building a serious black metal collection, this goes next to A Blaze in the Northern Sky and you don't argue about it.

Format: Full Length Album CD. Digipak, original release issue. Country of origin: Norway. Label: Moonfog Productions. Genre: Black Metal.

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