GMD Poll: Darkthrone's Discography Ranked

[Phylactery]

1. A Blaze in the Northern Sky
2. Transilvanian Hunger
3. Under a Funeral Moon
4. Panzerfaust
5. Goatlord
6. Soulside Journey
7. Plaguewielder
8 The Underground Resistance
9. Total Death
10. F.O.A.D
11. Dark Thrones and Black Flags

Need to revisit their mid period stuff before I put them in, but they'll almost certainly be above Dark Thrones and Blag Flags, which I'm not huge on.

 

[Serjeant Grumbles]

1. Transilvanian Hunger
2. Under a Funeral Moon
3. Panzerfaust
4. Soulside Journey
5. A Blaze in the Northern Sky
6. Plaguewielder
7. Ravishing Grimness
8. Arctic Thunder
9. The Underground Resistance
10. Sardonic Wrath
11. The Cult is Alive
12. Hate Them
13. Total Death

Didn't give much of a listen to the others.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Dark Thrones and Blag Flags, which I'm not huge on.

is that one as good as Dark Thrones and Black Fangs?

 

[Omni]

1. Panzerfaust
2. Under a Funeral Moon
3. A Blaze in the Northern Sky
4. Soulside Journey
5. Transilvanian Hunger
6. Goatlord
7. Ravishing Grimness
8. Total Death
9. The Underground Resistance
10. Plaguewielder
11. Hate Them
12. Arctic Thunder
13. Sardonic Wrath
14. F.O.A.D.
15. Dark Thrones and Black Flags
16. Circle the Wagons
17. The Cult Is Alive

I can honestly say that I don't dislike any of these albums, even though some are obviously less essential than others. I don't think that there are many other bands with this many full-length releases that I enjoy.

 

[EspaDa]

Unfinished

1. A Blaze in the Northern Sky
2. Transilvanian Hunger
3. Panzerfaust
4. F.O.A.D.
5. Under a Funeral Moon
6. Ravishing Grimness
7. Soulside Journey
8. Arctic Thunder

 

[Phylactery]

I can honestly say that I don't dislike any of these albums, even though some are obviously less essential than others. I don't think that there are many other bands with this many full-length releases that I enjoy.

I mostly agree with this. I don’t like The Cult is Alive or Dark Thrones and Black Flags much, but the rest are enjoyable to some extent (I haven’t heard Arctic Thunder or Circle the Wagons). Definitely one of the best bands with a large discography and one of my favourites. Those top 4 are definitely their crowning achievement for me though and stand above the rest.

 

[crimsonfloyd]

Well we have enough votes to make this worth calculating now, but I'm gonna extend the deadline for votes and revisions to Friday the 12th. I know I haven't had a chance to even review the second half of their discography yet because I've been traveling and visiting with family. I imagine others may be in the same boat.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

1. Under a Funeral Moon
2. A Blaze in the Northern Sky
3. Total Death
4. Goatlord
5. Soulside Journey
6. Panzerfaust
7. Transilvanian Hunger
8. Plaguewielder
9. Arctic Thunder
10. Hate Them
11. Sardonic Wrath
12. The Cult is Alive
13. The Underground Resistance
14. Ravishing Grimness
15. Dark Thrones and Black Flags
16. F.O.A.D.
17. Circle the Wagons

11 onward is where it gets dicey to downright bad with Circle the Wagons easily being the nadir of Darkthrone's body of work. I've always found most of their work from F.O.A.D. onward is really uninspired and not worth listening to. Seeing Darkthrone become a generic influence mill during the years I was getting into metal when I was hearing some of the my favorites by them has put a bad taste in my mouth to this very day and even upon further review, I can't find anything remotely good in them, effectively earning their place in the bottom portion of my list.

Total Death is easily the outlier on my list here but I think it's a fantastic release that isn't given anywhere near enough praise or attention. It maintains the atmosphere of their previous work while still having a lot of variety to the songs which makes it one of the band's most memorable and worthwhile releases. A classic.

Goatlord has only ever improved for me. It may have been around the Plaguewielder/Panzerfaust region in my list many years ago but it's easily in my top 5 now. All in all, I enjoyed doing this list. Looking forward to the next one.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Arctic Thunder makes Circle the Wagons look like a masterpiece.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Arctic Thunder makes Circle the Wagons look like a masterpiece.

Mind you, that 9 to 11 range changes quite often but frankly, Circle the Wagons will always be at the very bottom. I've listened to this whole discography (giving extra attention to their post-2007 era) and it hasn't changed things a bit in regards to albums like that one. The only major change was putting The Underground Resistance above Ravishing Grimness due to the latter being especially dull.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

the fact that you have it ranked above The Underground Resistance is kind of mind-boggling. I think its easily the worst from their later/more recent stuff.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

the fact that you have it ranked above The Underground Resistance is kind of mind-boggling. I think its easily the worst from their later/more recent stuff.

Don't you have it ranked as the second best of that period with F.O.A.D. being your most preferred? Or has that changed in the time since you posted your list? I ask since I don't know if your ranking is complete yet.

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

Arctic Thunder? Has always been dead last on my list. And yes FOAD is my favorite(always has been) out of the bunch and no my ratings haven't changed. But i was bringing up The Underground Resistance since you know, the world doesn't revolve around my taste in music. I know plenty of people who don't like FOAD, dont know many people who've said anything bad about The Underground Resistance. I just cant see any reason why anyone would rank that album above one that is superior in just about every possible way. But hey, here we are.

edit: typos

 

[Talos of Atmora]

Arctic Thunder? Has always been dead last on my list. And yes FOAD is my favorite(always has been) out of the bunch and no my ratings haven't changed. But i was bringing up The Underground Resistance since you know, the world doesn't revolve around my taste in music. I know plenty of people who don't like FOAD, dont know many people who've said anything bad about The Underground Resistance. I just cant see any reason why anyone would rank that album above one that is superior in just about every possible way. But hey, here we are.

edit: typos

Fair enough.

What do you think of their middle period?

 

[TechnicalBarbarity]

haven't heard much of it outside of a few tracks, so i cant really say much there.

I've been asking people which one i should go for if i had to check only one out. Most told me to go with The Cult is Alive and one friendo said Ravishing Grimness. What would you say?

 

[Talos of Atmora]

I've been asking people which one i should go for if i had to check only one out. Most people have told me to go with The Cult is Alive and one friendo said Ravishing Grimness. What would you say?

I've always preferred Hate Them and Plaguewielder to Ravishing Grimness and The Cult is Alive. That said, if you hadn't heard much from that period, I'd recommend listening to them all. As far as where to start though, I'd probably recommend Plaguewielder. From there, it's up to you.

 

[Phylactery]

I agree on starting with Plaguewielder, it’s my favourite of the mid period.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

I agree on starting with Plaguewielder, it’s my favourite of the mid period.

I'll admit, it does start with its weakest track. After that, it gets much better.

 

[CiG]

I don't care that you have new era Darkthrone's albums so low in your rankings with the exception of The Underground Resistance. I think that album is a head above the rest of their new stuff. Surprised to see Arctic Thunder so high as well, I thought it was pretty boring myself.

 

[Talos of Atmora]

I don't care that you have new era Darkthrone's albums so low in your rankings with the exception of The Underground Resistance. I think that album is a head above the rest of their new stuff. Surprised to see Arctic Thunder so high as well, I thought it was pretty boring myself.

That's fair. I don't get why Ravishing Grimness is above Total Death in your list either if I'm allowed a critique.