Customer Reviews

Preparing for War (W/Dvd) (Spec)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

... I like Darkthrone purely for their black metal releases, so this album disappointed me. I'd say 70% of this album is early death metal work (from their demos, soulside journey, and some live stuff) the rest is from their other releases (A Blaze in the Northern Sky, Transylvanian Hunger, and Under a Funeral Moon). There are 2 unreleased tracks (Neptune Towers and Iconoclasm Sweeps Cappadoria) but they are also Darkthrone's early death metal work. This album is not for fans out there that like Darkthrone for their black metal work. Personally, it would be much more worth it to buy the individual black metal albums by them instead of buying this cd. BUT if you're into Darkthrone for their early death metal work then this is the choice for you. Hope this helped (or warned) some people.

Disc 1- Tracks 1, 4, and 14 from "Transylvanian Hunger", Tracks 5 and 11 from "A blaze in the northern sky", tracks 6 and 10 from "Soulside journey", tracks 9 and 13 from "Under a Funeral Moon" track 2 from "A New Dimension" demo 1988, Track 3 from "Thulcandra" demo 1989, Tracks 7 and 8 recorded live in Oslo 1989, track 15 from "Cromlech" demo 1989

Review- Good selection of songs off of their LP releases, along with some nice demo and live songs (Snowfall, 9:04 instrumental, is the highlight of the disc IMO) The live and demo songs have decent production, nothing painful to the ears.

Disc 2-Tracks 1 and 2 from "Thulcandra" demo 1989, tracks 3-5 from "Cromlech" demo 1989, Track 6 from "Goatlord" session 1990, tracks 7-10 from "A Blaze in the Northern Sky" rehearsal 1991, tracks 11-13 from "Under a Funeral Moon" rehearsal 1992.

more demos, along with rehearsal tracks, The rehearsal tracks for "A blaze in the northen sky" are instrumental, and the "Under a Funeral Moon" rehearsals have vocals, but the production isn't that well on them, the drums sound...different, and loud next to the guitar. When listening to Under a Funeral Moon, be sure to turn down the volume at around 1:26, I dunno who done what but there is a deafening ringing that happens for around 6 or 7 seconds, then goes away.

Disc 3-Live performances from Oslo and Finland, plus interviews and picture gallery.

I haven't watched all of the live footage, some of it is good, some of it is...ehh. The interviews, correct me if i'm wrong, were released in parts on the digipak re-releases of the darkthrone albums, and the gallery has a couple of nice photos.

I wouldn't prefer this to any newcomer to Darkthrone, instead get the older albums (Under a Funeral Moon, Blaze in the Northern Sky, etc.) but to fans this is a really nice set, even the booklet has some nice info in it.

I bought this album out of curiousity for some of the earlier work. I've gave it a listen a couple times and its just alright nothing more nothing less. I probably shouldn't have bought this along with Immortals Sons of Northern Darkness because that stayed in my cd player much longer and is much better than Preparing for for. If you want a good Darkthrone just get Transilvanian Hunger and be happy.

The Darkthrone's compilation "Preparing For War" is great and worth to buy, because it has Darkthrone's best songs including some early rare ones. The production is not the best, but who cares the production? I don't understand some mentally deranged people who demand digital production from Darkthrone. Instead, this album with its bad production is the greatest thing. I recommend it to get. Even you have Darkthrone's albums, this compilation must be bought.

Note that this compilation was released by Peaceville Records, Darkthrone's previous label. So "Preparing For War" has tracks from those albums that have been released by Peaceville. Even so, it's great and majestic. I revere in awe before Darkthrone. Fenriz & Nocturno Culto are the greatest evil that one could imagine. "Preparing For War" is a masterpiece among compilations.

I am sure everyone will agree that Darkthrone's finest compositions are included here. However, the most annoying thing is production. While we can get used to listening to a badly produced CD to feel more evil (HA!),getting used to songs from 4 differently produced albums really reduces the entertainment value. In fact, it becomes outright annoying to keep adjusting your stereo to different production levels. This is what reduces the rating from 5 stars (for songs) to 3 stars (for extremely annoying production).

I would give this a miss and just go for all of darkthrone's albums instead and listen to them individually.

With MTV, VH1 and the Internet providing me with every last tidbit of knowledge about the lives of American music artists in recent years, I must say that my interest in rock-n-roll has finally waned. I've come to believe that the key to truly great music is mystery; the best albums are the ones that leave me confused about an artists' message and musical intentions. It was almost 20 years ago that I first got into music, and despite coverage from Rolling Stone, I had nothing but my own imagination to go on. Times have changed, sadly...

That said, Darkthrone has helped to fill this void with some of the spookiest, grittiest, impossibly abrasive metal music I have ever heard. I was baffled by them, wondering why these men from Norway would create such sounds, being that there is absolutley zero percent chance of commercial success in the States, let alone any kind of mass underground following. This is loner music, kids. They never tour, don't do much press...you have nothing but your imagination and some of the best Black Metal ever to fuel your dark thoughts.

This compilation spans their amazing career. Get it, and you will have yourself a DIY treat!