Well, it seems like the Norwegian Black
Metal bands have nothing more to say, and I mean the same bands that we, for once, called "Legends,
True Warriors, Pioneers…" and for those who know or have read the history of black metal, must have seen the name
Darkthrone many times.
Since their first days and forth,
Darkthrone have declared themselves as a Black
Metal band, and whether satanic or not, we all know what Black
Metal is, and I expected something huge from a Black
Metal "Giant" like
Darkthrone, I expected something Black
Metal and I was extremely disappointed throughout their most recent release of the year 2010:
Circle the Wagons.
The album title is a bit confusing, I mean, having the idea of
Darkthrone in the mind and seeing this title is in the least something unpleasant, but as we all know, the title never tells the whole story, so I got the album, and I put the CD into the player… Guys, as the first two minutes of the first track elapsed I was rechecking for everything expecting that I got the a different album for a different band, but everything was right, I mean, what I got in my CD player was the 2010 album for the Norwegian Black
Metal band
Darkthrone.
First of all, the sound quality of this release is not acceptable for a band that has been active for nearly quarter a century, I mean, can't they sign with a professional records label?
Second of all, musically, the album is far away from being a Black
Metal album, the guitar riffs are the same being used in Thrash
Metal, there are some guitar solos that are unworthy of being mentioned actually, and for the drums… My god, there's absolutely nothing good or unique or whatever to mention when we talk about drums, and here again, I'm not talking about a specific track, but unfortunately about the whole album, from the first track till the very end of the last one.
Some might say, well, Black
Metal is originated from Thrash
Metal, and I say that's absolutely right, no question about that, but this album would be acceptable in the 80s, when there wasn't a clear definition of Black
Metal, but now, after releasing thousands of great Black
Metal albums in the 90s and the first decade of the 21st century it is definitely not acceptable to release such an album to be categorized under the genre Black
Metal.
For the vocals, they are really funny, I don't know if those guys are really serious, and really expecting people to be convinced that those vocals are good for a Black
Metal release.
The title and the lyrics are not better than the whole thing, I mean "I am the Working Class"?? What the hell is that? Is it really a title for a Black
Metal song?
Finally, for the cover art, it's a bit better than everything else, but I don't think it would make any difference now, even if it's as valuable as the Mona
Liza, but always to be truthful, the cover art is good.
In the end, a last word for the die-hard fans of
Darkthrone, all I did was a criticism on the light of the concept of Black
Metal, no offence guys, but I'm also longing to hear something good.
Also, you shouldn't be that surprised when listening to the album unless you didn't hear the previous ones, since they have been progressively changing the style, so this wasn't all of a sudden.
I, personally, liked it.
Thanks for the review anyway, stay cool.
Also, the drums are the least important in Black Metal, there shouldn't be anything "original" about them in the first place
It seems like you don't know much about the band either. They've changed their style to Crust Punk more than 4 years before the release of "Circle the Wagons", why are you so surprised then?
You say that they should follow the 90's Black Metal recipe, that so many bands have used now, to sound like a proper Black Metal band.
That's actually what lead them to this new style. It's not the first time they're doing this. Until 90/91 they were a Death Metal band and then they changed their style to Black Metal. They weren't Black Metal from the start.
Hail Darkthrone!
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