Sardonic Wrath

Sardonic Wrath is the tenth album by the Norwegian black metal band, Darkthrone. It was released through Moonfog Productions in 2004, and was the band's last album with that record label. Though punk influences are already apparent, it would be Darkthrone's last album recorded solely in the black metal style. Their subsequent albums feature much stronger punk traits.

The entire album was leaked on the Internet beginning in April 2004, extremely premature of the September 2004 release date. However, the final release of the album was considerably different from the Internet leak.

The title of the album seems to have been derived from the lyrics of "Earth's Last Picture", a song from Darkthrone's Total Death album ("As lands tremble, and empires fall/Ye may hear us laugh with sardonic wrath"). Sardonic Wrath is also a term used in The Book of Satan in The Satanic Bible ("I blast out the ghastly contents of philosophically whited sepulchers and laugh with sardonic wrath!").

On the song "Hate is the Law", vocals are performed by Fenriz and Apollyon. Oddly, the closing song, "Rawness Obsolete", is listed on many lyric sites as an instrumental. This can be attributed to the lack of any printed lyrics in the accompanying booklet.

Track listing

1. "Order of the Ominous" – 2:32
2. "Information Wants to be Syndicated" – 3:44
3. "Sjakk matt Jesu Krist" (Checkmate Jesus Christ) – 4:04
4. "Straightening Sharks in Heaven" – 3:27
5. "Alle gegen alle" (All Against All) – 3:21
6. "Man tenker sitt" (You Have Your Thoughts) – 3:05
7. "Sacrificing to the God of Doubt" – 4:34
8. "Hate Is the Law" – 3:22
9. "Rawness Obsolete" – 6:14

Credits

• Fenriz – drums, vocals on "Hate Is the Law"
• Nocturno Culto – electric guitar, bass guitar, vocals
• Apollyon – vocals on "Hate Is the Law"