Darkthrone began in the late 80’s as a thrash/death metal act & progressed through technical death/doom metal experimentation to become legends of the black metal world & one of the original leading bands of the Norwegian scene.
‘Goatlord’ is the title of what was to originally be Darkthrone’s second album. The style followed very much in the vein of the debut, ‘Soulside Journey’, with a mid-paced melodic, yet technical death metal style. After the recording of the tracks in their completed demo form in 1991, however, Darkthrone’s focus shifted towards black metal & so the album was shelved, while work commenced on what was to be the Norwegian black metal milestone, ‘A Blaze in the Northern Sky’, which did actually incorporate some parts from the ‘Goatlord’ tracks.
‘Goatlord’ was only ever recorded instrumentally, & so it wasn’t until 1994 that Fenriz added vocals to the songs, with the album eventually seeing a release on the band’s then label, Moonfog Productions in 1996.
This 2-CD edition of ‘Goatlord’ includes the bonus track ‘A Blaze in the Northern Sky’ in its original form & also a commentary disc with Fenriz & Nocturno reflecting on the tracks & their inspirations at the time of writing the material, as the music plays in the background. Also features new cover artwork, as selected by the band, which they feel better represents the band’s vision, as opposed to the image featured on the Moonfog version of the album.
