Disc 1:  Norway - 1989:  Eon/Thulcandra, Soria Moria.  Urheilutalo, Riihimäki, Finland - May 3rd, 1991:  Cromlech, Paragon Belial, Green Cave Float, A Blaze In The Northern Sky.

Disc 2:  Rockefeller Center, Oslo, Norway - April 6th, 1996:  Intro., Under A Funeral Moon, Blackwinged, In The Shadow Of The Horns (cut), Transylvanian Hunger.  Lahti, Finland - May 4th, 1991:  Cromlech, Life, untitled, Paragon Belial, A Blaze In The Northern Sky (cut).

It's enough that almost all of Darkthrone's latter day live appearances have audio documentation, but a minor miracle there are video tapes too.  This new release by the outfit calling themselves simply Blackmetaldvds collects the footage of all four known Darkthrone videos and presents them, in the words of the label, in the best possible condition.  That is probably true although even these are still a bit rough viewing and are far from master quality.  But they are clear enough to enjoy.

The first show is their appearance on Norwegian television in 1989.  This is a three camera affair with generous close ups of all four members and good far shots too.  Darkthrone play two songs from their demo which were never officially released.  The sound is great and the video is a bit blurry but is probably the best we can have.  It is interesting to see them dressed all trendy in jogging pants and flannel shirts, looking like any other typical death metal band.

The two video tapes from Finland are the majority of their three date tour of Finland with the speed metal band Prestige.  Riihimäki is perhaps the most clear of all the tapes featured on this release (the screen shot above is Nocturno Culto singing "A Blaze In The Northern Sky").  This was their set at a big metal fest and is recorded with only one camera that begins in the wings on stage right and then moves for the last couple of songs into the mosh pit right in front of Zephyrous.  The band are constantly harrassed by stage divers and fans growling into the mic during songs.  

Drummer Fenriz spoke about this gig in an interview the following year:  "In Finland we had to kick people off the stage down to the audience because they were just standing there or they were about to stagedive. They think they own the stage. WE are the artists, THEY are the (trendy) audience. A DARKTHRONE show is grim. But we don't wanna play live anymore. We've played 20 gigs and all sucked!!! We can play our songs live we don't fuck up, but it's everything else concerning the gig. And afterwards there are always wimps that hang around for an autograph!"

The Lahti gig the following night, and the second tape on disc two, begins with Fenriz discouraging stage divers and saying "I'm just telling you now.  You have been warned!"  The show proceeds without incident and is very good.  The picture is very blurry at times and the position of the camera at the beginning, right in front of the drums, makes it very noisy.  It not until the camera moves again into the mosh pit in front of Zephyrous that we gain any clarity of sound and picture and is again very good. 

But the most important footage is the first on disc two, Darkthrone's surpise set with Satyricon and Dissection in Oslo in the spring of 1996.  The whole atmosphere is very grim with single colored lights on Nocturno Culto with fire torches on stage and barbed wire seperating the band from the audience.  The camera focuses upon the singer (with occasional shots of Fenriz at the drums and Satyr on bass) and he stands still in cape and inverted cross singing in his famous feral voice full of grimness and hatred.  The band play "Under A Funeral Moon", "In The Shadow Of The Horns" (unfortunately cut) and "Transylvanian Hunger" which are the "Stairway To Heaven", "Bohemian Rhapsody", and "Satisfaction" of the black metal scene.  The picture is somewhat clear when the camera reaches the front row but it does look older than death itself.  It's keeping with the whole Darkthrone ethos of cold, dark and grimm.

There is also a nice gallery on disc one with twenty photos.  Some are their early publicity pictures with some candid photos of Fenriz drinking beer and he and Nocturno Culto hanging out at their Necrohell studios.  It would have been better if they included bumper music instead of silence.  This comes in a double slimline jewel case with photocopied construction paper as an insert.  The back has the famous picture of Darkthrone posing with Euronymous of Mayhem, and the inside has the lyrics to "In The Shadow Of The Horns".  It's the cheapest packaging imaginable, but the footage is what counts and this is a must own for Darkthrone fans.