The Darkthrone
of today are a completely different band than when they started out and
redefined the genre of black metal in the early '90s. Darkthrone sound like
they do today very simply because their songwriting has evolved. They want
to honor true old school music and pay homage to their influences on their
new album ‘Dark Thrones and Black Flags’. It sounds like Nocturno
Culto and Fenriz go for a hike into the winter woods, plug a chainsaw into
an amplifier, and start banging on beer cans with broken tree branches to
see what sound it would make. The opening riff of ‘The Winds They
Called the Dungeon Shaker’ is pulled from familiar dissonant black
metal lexicon. But once the filthy Animal Taylor D-beat kick in it’s
clear we are back in F.O.A.D. territory. The entire album follows the same
formula of terrible, cliché, almost jokingly bad song titles. In
fact, DTBF is so similar to Darkthrone’s previous record it could
easily be its second half. The production may be the reason these riffs
sound different than the rest of the song, because Darkthrone have retained
their tradition of shitty production, as said in the album liner “Mixed
and hardly produced by Nocturno Culto…”. Don’t let the
simplistic drumming and terrible production fool you, though, since Darkthrone
play a style of music which pays homage to such genres as punk, NWOBHM,
and speed metal, influences which are evident in most of the tracks, but
none more apparent than ‘Hanging Out In Haiger’, which features
short-lived but lively solos many of these sounds have been made before
by men with strings and sticks and beer, It’s nowhere near musical
art, but at this point in Darkthrone's career it's obvious that they don't
give a fuck about what anybody thinks of them, which is a great attitude
for all bands to have but I wish they cared about putting out good quality
material again. The demise of Darkthrone as a leading black metal band is
getting sad. ‘Dar Thrones and Black Flags’ is proof positive
that Darkthrone have little to nothing creative left inside them, I can’t
help but sit here and wonder what has happened to one of the world’s
original black metal bands? Let’s hope they can pull it all together
before their legacy becomes a joke, just as this album has becomes already!
The Winds They Called The Dungeon Shaker
Death Of All Oaths (Oath Minus)
Hiking Metal Punks
Blacksmith Of The North (Keep That Ancient Fire)
Norway In September
Grizzly Trade
Hanging Out In Haiger
Dark Thrones And Black Flags
Launchpad To Nothingness
Witch Ghetto
Rating: 40
Reviewed By: Cameron Edney
- http://www.myspace.com/insideout666ints |
