siLLy puPPy DØDHEIMSGARD (Norweigian for “Realm Of Death” formed in 1994 in Oslo by Vicotnik (drums), Fenriz (bass) and Aldrahn (lead vocals, guitar). They were yet another band who jumped on the Darkthrone bandwagon of second wave black metal and should be commended for becoming perfect clones on their first album KRONET TIL KONGE (“Crowned To Be King.”) All those early black metal traits are here in perfect replication. All the buzz saw guitars and tremolo picking, the shrieked unintelligible vocals and of course the lo-fi demo quality sound production peppered with all the anti-Christian Satanic lyrics (albeit mostly in Norweigian) about slaughtering God, winning the war and all the usual suspects.

While DØDHEIMSGARD would evolve fairly quickly even as soon as their second release “Monumental Possession” which would find them finding their own creative stamp on black metal before they would really delve into the avant-garde and industrial worlds, KRONET TIL KONGE is so generic it hurts after coming to this last after their original and creative run of “Satanic Art” to “A Umbra Omega.” In fact if you placed any of these tracks on the first few Darkthrone albums no one would know the difference except for a slightly different sound of the vocals. The song structures are nearly identical as is the overall bleak atmospheric din.

There is nothing really bad about KRONET TIL KONGE either. It’s as good as any other standard second wave black metal release of the era, but with a band as original as DØDHEIMSGARD it comes across as woefully substandard and even though i am a huge fans of this band i have skipped this one until i found the 2015 remastered version used in mint condition and took a chance. While i’m happy i have tasted this early roots era of DØDHEIMSGARD, i very much doubt if i’ll be throwing this on for listening pleasure. Average and for completists only.