Norwegian legends Darkthrone and I have something in common: We both couldn’t give less of a fuck about the legacy of black metal. Though with earlier albums like Transilvanian Hunger and A Blaze in the Northern Sky, they helped shape that the genre would become in the ‘90s and beyond, the duo of vocalist/guitarist/bassist Nocturno Culto and drummer/vocalist Fenriz have morphed into an oldschool punk/metal wrecking crew, giving nods to Trouble and obscure/classic ‘80s speed metallers along the way.

Their oppositional stance to press, playing live and (occasionally) their own fans has made Darkthrone a pariah in the world of underground metal, and I doubt very much they’d have it any other way. As on their more recent albums, F.O.A.D. (2007) and Dark Thrones and Black Flags (2008), the latest, Circle the Wagons (Peaceville), was composed half by Fenriz and half by Nocturno Culto, and contains the barebones stuff of heavy metal hunger. Imagine being in a band for 23 years and still sounding as ravenous as though you were just releasing your first demo.

What’s most striking about Circle the Wagons opener “Those Treasures Will Never Befall You” is how produced it is. Of course, it’s all relative, but compared to Dark Thrones and Black Flags and F.O.A.D., which basically sounded as live and lo-fi as you can get, Circle the Wagons starts off sounding polished. I chalk it up to the added experience the band has recording themselves and maybe some new equipment at Necrohell Studios, where they make all their albums. Nonetheless, the song — a Fenriz composition — feels like the duo are starting to develop within this still basically new stage of their career, beginning to evolve within their punk/metal sound. The vocals are a little more complex in their arrangement, and on the whole it comes off as less reckless than some of their output in the last few years. It’s an interesting development.

And it keeps up for much of the album. A track like the 7:33 “Stylized Corpse,” written by Nocturno Culto, also sees more development, and although he has stuck more to the band’s black metal origins in his writing than has Fenriz, the two are starting to come together more stylistically. In this way, Circle the Wagons has a better overall flow than either of Darkthrone’s other albums in this style. I don’t think that’s something that was carefully planned out, it’s just the organic nature of the songwriting. The only listed joint piece, “Black Mountain Totem,” is the quintessential stuff of new-era Darkthrone, blending elements of ‘80s underground metal and punk with a little of the Norwegian coldness by means of which the band got their start. I don’t know what keeps these guys wanting to make albums, but their output is so refreshing in terms of what it says about the persistence of the creative spirit that I can’t help but be glad each time a new one comes along.

Those who saw the humor and/or memorable appeal of Fenriz tracks like “Canadian Metal” from F.O.A.D. and “Hiking Metal Punks” from Dark Thrones and Black Flags will find “I am the Graves of the ‘80s” fits right in line. Fenriz’s other declarative statement on Circle the Wagons, “I am the Working Class” is a little longer, but perhaps filled with even more punkish resentment in the lines, “I am the working class/Damn straight the daily grind is my fate.” One doesn’t generally go to Darkthrone for social commentary, that’s just not what they do, but it’s funny to think of white collar American hipster metal fans singing along to this on their iPhone, and one hopes that some equivalent image was in the mind of Fenriz when he wrote the song.

His other two contributions are the title track, a quick burst of punk anger, and closer “Bränn Inte Slottet,” which shows some doom influence in its closing moments. The Nocturno Culto-only tracks, “Running for Borders,” “Stylized Corpse” and “Eyes Burst at Dawn” provide ample counterpoint, with the latter being a genuine Circle the Wagons highlight. He doesn’t get as much attention from the media as does Fenriz — in no small part because Fenriz handles most of the band’s press and cuts a more sensational figure for himself — but a song like “Eyes Burst at Dawn” excellently melds all eras of Darkthrone into a cohesive mass that should please fans both new and old. And if I may say, fucking killer guitar solo as well.

If you’re a fan of Darkthrone’s late sonic excursions, then Circle the Wagons is going to fit right in with what you’ve been enjoying about the other albums. If you hanker for the days of high-contrast black and white photos in the woods, there should be enough other bands out there aping the style to tide you over anyway, so go bitch somewhere else. Circle the Wagons is Darkthrone doing what Darkthrone does. It comes with a fair amount of antagonizing and confrontation, and it makes compromises for no one. If you can’t get behind that, I don’t know what to tell you.

“Destroy their modern metal and bang your fucking head.” — Fenriz, “I am the Graves of the ’80s”

Darkthrone on MySpace

Peaceville Records

Tags: Darkthrone, Norway, Peaceville

This entry was posted on Friday, April 23rd, 2010 at 12:19 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.