Darkthrone - Black Metal Band

Darkthrone is a Norwegian black metal band founded in 1987 by Zephyrous, Nocturno Culto, Fenriz and Dag Nielsen.

The band released their first studio album Soulside Journey in 1991, which was stylistically closest to death metal, before moving on to play black metal exclusively starting with the 1992 sophomore A Blaze in the Northern Sky. Afterwards, Dag Nielsen left the band due to internal tensions and discontent with regards to the direction the band was taking (i.e. black metal).

The band released their third album Under a Funeral Moon in 1993, with Zephyrous leaving the band shortly after for reasons unknown. Fenriz claimed that Zephyrous was always "bizarre" and one day "walked into a forest and never came back". From thereon Darkthrone would remain a duo of Nocturno Culto and Fenriz.

In 1994, with the help of Varg Vikernes from Burzum, they released their fourth album and magnum opus Transilvanian Hunger, which remains an unsurpassed milestone in black metal to this day.

Darkthrone are often accused of being a "NSBM" (National Socialist Black Metal) band, due to the printing of the phrase "Norsk Arisk Black Metal" ("Norwegian Aryan Black Metal") on the back of Transilvanian Hunger, because of Fenriz' lifelong friendship with Varg Vikernes, because of the title of the 1995 album Panzerfaust, and because of various provocative comments made by Nocturno Culto and Fenriz in interviews throughout the years. The claim that Darkthrone is NSBM is nevertheless heavily disputed.