Darkthrone Have Decided that Wagons are “Totally Black Metal,” and Circling Them, Even More So
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 8th, 2010 by H.P. TaskmasterThe PR wire owns your soul with this news about new Darkthrone. They rule and have an influence on underground rock farther reaching than any genre tag you want to saddle on them, so yes, the album will be covered here. If that makes me a hipster poseur loser whatever, I’ll gladly refer you to the banner at the top of the page and hope that clears up the argument.
Here’s the info:
The unrelenting Norwegian duo, Darkthrone, will welcome a new decade with a new album, to be released on Peaceville
Records. Circle the Wagons, a creative feast of metal and punk, will initially be released on vinyl on March 8th, through the Peaceville Records webstore, as an exclusive taster for the legions of metal supporters out there who still care about great music delivered the classic way. The vinyl will also include a link to download a digital version of the album, which will be available when the regular and special edition CD versions of the album are released on April 6th.
Circle the Wagons was self-recorded at Necrohell II Studios. Artwork for the album comes once again courtesy of Dennis Dread, notable for his talents on previous Darkthrone albums, F.O.A.D. and 2008’s Dark Thrones and Black Flags.
Drummer/lyricist, Fenriz explains the meaning behind the title…
“The new metal decade starts with our album. It is a message to the invaders of our metal domain to circle their wagons! With our own brand of heavy metal/speed metal-punk we are a constant ambush on the modern overground metal traitors. Join us in our fight against instant gratification, and let’s see who stands when the smoke clears.”
Track listing:
01. Those Treasures Will Never Befall You
02. Running for Borders
03. I am the Graves of the 80s
04. Stylized Corpse
05. Circle the Wagons
06. Black Mountain Totem
07. I am the Working Class
08. Eyes Burst at Dawn
09. Bränn Inte Slottet
The upcoming release from Los Angeles psychedelic trio Dead Meadow, titled Three Kings, is nearly as difficult to conceptualize as it must have been to execute. Teaming up with the film company Artificial Army, the band (Steve Kille, bass; Jason Simon, guitar/vocals; Stephen McCarty, drums) captured a live show at a warehouse space called Little Radio in their adopted hometown and proceeded to intercut it with narrative film clips portraying the titular three characters — as played by the band — being morally beset on all sides on a journey they know not where, coming together finally for who knows what. Just to make matters more difficult, the audio companion to the DVD intersperses the already-mentioned live recordings with brand new studio tracks — and, get this — it all sounds pretty much the same.
When it comes to the kind of emotive, traditional doom in which Indianapolis, Indiana, four-piece Apostle of Solitude traffic, an album like their 2008 full-length debut, Sincerest Misery, is a hard one to top. The record was a triumph of precisely what the title suggested, and each song carried a drama with it that was neither over-the-top nor silly, but felt remarkably human and real to the listener. The guitar and vocal work of Chuck Brown (ex-The Gates of Slumber) was essential to this process; his voice in particular heralding the doom of yore with an urgency not often heard in their genre.
The new EP on Catacomb Records entitled The Simplicity of the Riff is Key is going to pressing, the artwork is all complete and there is a tentative release date of the first week in April. Obviously we’ll be letting the world know as soon as it’s available so you can rush to buy copies!!!!
Sludge heathens Deadbird — whose last full-length Twilight Ritual was also released in 2008 by At a Loss — contribute one brutal track filled with the patented tempo changes and somber, regret-filled lyrics one would expect. Rabid screams and tempos mesh with oppressive doom and hardcore-esque sing along anthems together in a way few bands make work.
opening track “As Horizons End” has been in my head for a couple days, I’d grab the 2009 Paradise Lost release as well. Maybe there was some subliminal connection because both bands are British. In any case, I had some store credit to burn.
In also-ruling news, The Brought Low also recently finished their new album, Third Record, for upcoming release via Small Stone. They’ve just put up a new track, “The Kelly Rose,” 
It seems at first an unassuming full-length that Philadelphia contemplative rockers Dangerbird have come up with for Homestead (SRA Records), and on some levels it is. The music isn’t especially overbearing or heavy (at least for the most part), they don’t hammer home riff-based groove after groove, and the overall earthy feel of the music lends itself more to emotional warmth than to any kind of technical chill. There are sweet submelodies in the guitars and vocals, and though the back half of the record shifts tone significantly from the front, some semblance of flow is maintained.
Massachusetts stoner/doom metallers Cortez have entered New Alliance Audio (Scissorfight, Cave In, Keelhaul, Trap Them, The Red Chord) in Cambridge, Massachusetts to begin recording material for its second album with engineer Ethan Dussault. Song titles set to appear on the CD include “Monolith,” “Northlander,” and “Beyond the Mountain.” This will be the first recording to feature vocalist Matt Harrington.
legendary band’s classic songs. And short of a full Kyuss reunion, that’s about as nifty as it’s gonna get. Thing is, when they announced that Garcia would be doing this, the rest of the band was never revealed.
I usually don’t go in for comps, if only because there’s generally no flow to them whatsoever, but there are enough bands I’ve never heard of on the French two-disc offering (Ocoai, Monachus, Kalkh-In(Joy) Erode, etc.) Falling Down II, mixed with enough of the familiar (Ufomammut, Kongh, Farflung, etc.) that I’m interested to hear how it comes out. The best part might be that it’s made up almost entirely of previously unreleased material.
Whenever I hear a record like the The Shadow over Atlantis, the jaw-dropping sophomore outing from UK doomers The Wounded Kings (and contrary to whatever hyperbole is yet to come, reason knows there are other albums that have provoked this reaction), I feel oppressed by it, like I’m drowning in it — and yes, that is a very good thing. The duo’s I Hate Records label debut crosses traditional lines with newer atmospheres, and maintains a punishingly, torturously slow approach that simply is the essence of doom. As the cover art harkens to the vinyl days of yore while keeping a mystical, occult vibe, so too does the music fall into line across the six tracks of the album.