Vehemency
Often overlooked, Panzerfaust belongs to my favourite Darkthrone albums. It is the deep cold, dark atmosphere that gets me hooked everytime I hear this album. I understand people who say this album doesn’t bring anything new unlike the previous efforts, which is kind of true, but the same time I can’t dismiss the power that these compositions possess.
Musically, Panzerfaust includes two kinds of material: that which is reminiscent of the simple melodic and hypnotic style in the vein of Transilvanian Hunger (tracks ”En Vind Av Sorg” and ”Hans Siste Vinter”) and more doomish material that go by the names ”The Hordes of Nebulah”, ”Quintessence” and ”Behold the Throne of Might”. Celtic Frost influences are clear throughout the album. So, in a way it could be said that Panzerfaust is an infusion of Transilvanian Hunger and Under a Funeral Moon.
A mere cheap mixture, then? In my ears, no. The overall coldness that Panzerfaust manages to capture is phenomenal. The different musical approaches that I mentioned in the last paragraph makes Panzerfaust a diverse record, with a raw and wintry production that is pure gold to my ears. Nocturno Culto’s tortured shrieks are quite on top of everything but still not on a disturbing level. Fenriz, who oddly enough played all the instruments on this record, executes the songs pretty tightly, and especially his drumming is great sounding in the more doomish tracks of the album.
Ended with a beautiful outro that is somewhat reminiscent of Burzum’s more ambient material, Panzerfaust is an album of which personal importance I can’t underestimate. It’s not a Transilvanian Hunger, but actually very close to that and I am not afraid to say that it’s up there with the Darkthrone classics.