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[6/10] Sardonic Wrath is the third Darkthrone outing in a row that begs to ask if Darkthrone is actually a punk band moonlighting as 2 veteran black metal warriors. With their mystique and grandeur vanquished in a thick cloud of black smoke thanks to Nocturno Culto performing Darkthrone songs live at 2004's Wacken (?!?) with Satyricon and Fenriz still making the rounds as a black metal spokesperson, Sardonic Wrath does little to add to the artistic legacy of Darkthrone. Instead, it proves to be just as interchangeable as the band's last 3 albums.
Tagging this album as a black metal release is hard to swallow given the collective mindset of a duo once so revered and ominous. Recorded in only 3 days, Sardonic Wrath has the pervasive vibe of a garage band throwing together 3-chord riffs over top a polka-beat and calling it 'black metal.' For something so hallowed as black metal, this approach makes Darkthrone look like a minor league band compared to the professionalism of the genre's current frontrunners.
With modern day black metal taking on a more polished, epic sound, Darkthrone is more intent than ever on stripping its sound down to the bare essentials. Black metal in its infancy relished in minimalism and bleakness, but Sardonic Wrath has the vibe of an old GBH album. Simplistic, three chord rockers are what Darkthrone tags as black metal at the moment. While this notion is hard to dispute, it is hard to find merit with a band so hell-bent creating music for the sake of being 'old-school' and 'troo'.
Darkthrone may find difficulty in laying claim to being solely a black metal band if they want to continue making albums such as Sardonic Wrath. Granted, their legacy is already cemented thanks to their glorious albums of the mid-90's, but trying to become black metal's AC/DC and Ramones might be even more regressive to a band deadest on backpedaling. Related Link: Darkthrone.no
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