Darkthrone - Circle The Wagons (2010)

Band: Darkthrone
Album: Circle The Wagons
Year: 2010
Country: Norway
Everyone knows or SHOULD at least know who Darkthrone is. They have been around since the very beginning and even if you like them or not you can't deny that they set the standard for many bands in the black metal-genre. People talk a lot about the death-era ala Soulside Journey and the black metal-era that followed but I think that people don't give the newer era the attention that it deserves. We have come a long way since Transylvanian Hunger which is and always will be a masterpiece for the genre but that is no reason to turn down on the newer albums. Maybe someday Fenriz and Nocturno will close the casket and retire to a life in piece but Circle The Wagons shows that they have a long way to go before that happens. If I were to make a list of the best albums from the previous year Circle The Wagons would definitely be in the top five. Everything about it just reeks of Darkthrone even though it sounds like a dirty and possessed version of Motörhead. The riffs are beyond great, the primitive drumming pounds you like a woodpecker determined to bash your skull in and the vocals sounds like a foul and angry drunk that just got out of bed only to find out that there's no coffee left, cursing the whole mankind for being against him. The first song Those Treasures Shall Never Befall You is about black metal never breaking any new grounds and to me that is what this album is about, breaking new grounds. But if you are contempt with treading water in the past then I really can't blame you. But at least give this record a try. You don't want this treasure to get out of hands.

Song(s) you should listen to: I Am the Working Class always gets me going. It's a real killer and whenever I try to convince people to listen to this record this is the song I always show. If there were an award for best metal-riff the price would go to Darkthrone without a doubt.

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