Fortunately, Darkthrone decided to abandon the overly clean production found on "Hate Them". Now the guitars are dirtier sounding, and Nocturno Culto's vocals take on an aspect similar to that of "A Blaze In The Northern Sky" minus all the reverb. This is definitely a good thing, as his singing on "Hate Them" was so painfully up-front in the mix that it was very difficult to adjust to. Fenriz's lyrics also show some improvement from their last album. One must keep in mind that this music is still excellent compared to any pop or pop-metal. The album does have a very black metal sound, but this atmosphere is still weakened and filtered through Darkthrone's stubborn adherence to slower rock and punk stylings that devastate the possibility of this album rising to become a landmark. The members of Darkthrone claim to be making the same music over and over again. Unfortunately, this isn't really true. Darkthrone have changed a lot since their inception at the beginning of the true black metal scene. They have evolved rather far from their original (and inspiring) style of primitive, hateful, dark black metal. There is even a song on "Sardonic Wrath" acknowledging this titled "Rawness Obsolete". While the music is easily capable of standing strong on its own, it simply pales in comparison to the band's earlier works.

For those who are unfamiliar with Darkthrone, "Sardonic Wrath" is not the place to start if you want to understand black metal. Look back to the band's early masterpieces – "Sardonic Wrath" is merely a continuation of Darkthrone's slow and rather unfortunate decay.

written by Derek Schultz

Playing time: 34.17