Darkthrone - Dark Thrones And Black Flags review
| Band: | Darkthrone |
| Album: | Dark Thrones And Black Flags |
| Style: | Crust punk, Black metal, Heavy metal |
| Release date: | October 20, 2008 |
| A review by: | BitterCOld |
01. The Winds They Called The Dungeon Shaker
02. Oath Minus
03. Hiking Metal Punx
04. Blacksmith Of The North
05. Norway In September
06. Grizzly Trade
07. Hanging Out In Haiger
08. Dark Thrones And Black Flags
09. Launchpad To Nothingness
10. Witch Ghetto
It's another year and that means another offering from Darkthrone's dynamic duo of Gylve "Fenriz" Nagell and Ted "Nocturno Culto" Skjellum. Their latest opus, "Dark Thrones and Black Flags" marks their fifth release in the last six years and their 14th release since 1991's "Soulside Journey."
"Dark Thrones?" continues to see the band fuse elements of their traditional sound as well as their metal and punk influences into one caustic witches brew. The end result is that "DKaBF" sounds like the bastard union of their take on the more traditional metal sound of "F.O.A.D." with the bombast and energy of their crustpunk influenced "The Cult is Alive" - and it's a damn enjoyable album.
Their latest effort clocks in at the usual near 40 minutes, this time with a full 10 tracks whereas in the past most Darkthrone albums had six to eight songs. The end result is songs that are shorter, more driven, and more to the point.
The strongest aspect of the new album is the guitar work. Guitar duties were split between Nocturno and Fenriz, and it seems both showed up at Necrohell II studio with their "A" material. For the most part, the songs are dynamic, shifting riffs and tempos, and each song as at least one really cool riff that makes you take notice. Nothing earth-shattering that will have <insert your favorite axe deity here> furrowing his brow and spending hours sequestered in the back of the tour bus trying to decipher, but good, solid metal craftsmanship that will have you tossing the horns and raising some pints.
Vocal duties, as with the riff creation duties, were split between Gylve and Ted. The vocals were slightly annoying at first as they're all recorded a little heavy on the reverb, but that was easy to get used to/over on repeated listens. They do get a bit expressive at times, much to my chagrin, as with the slightly over dramatic chorus to the opening track? "the winds? they called? THE DUNGEON SHAKERRRRRRR!!!, but it all adds to the enjoyment of the album.
Fenriz put in a Fenriz-like performance behind the kit, with the drums pounding along, propelling the songs forward purposefully. As with the riffing, nothing fancy, just a good workmanlike skins to back-up the riffs and keep the energy high.
Production is pretty much what you'd expect from Darkthrone. They've their own portable studio. They pick a weekend, they each bring their respective instruments and a couple cases of beer, meet up, plug in, and get to recording. Nothing fancy here, folks.
I've used the phrase "nothing fancy" a couple times over the course of this review because "Dark Thrones and Black Flags" isn't anything fancy. It's Darkthrone. It's ugly. It's rough. It's dirty. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
If you like the direction Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have taken since "Hate Them", by all means, check this out. If you're one of those that don't like anything they've recorded since "Panzerfaust", maybe your time would be better spent raiding your mom's make-up cabinet and posing in your back yard at night with whatever implements of landscaping you have handy.
Stand out tracks: "The Winds?", "Oath Minus", "Norway in September", and "Witch Ghetto"
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 8 |
 | Written on 30.10.2008 by BitterCOld has been officially reviewing albums for MetalStorm since 2009. |
Comments page 3 / 3
Comments: 78
Visited by: 468 users
| Mikrokosmos Account deleted |
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| RavenKing Posts: 1941  |
Written by [user id=109376] on 04.12.2010 at 20:23 This album sucks. Only a shitty Motorhead wannabe. Believe what you want, "Transylvanian Hunger" is much more Black Metal than this garbage. And I don't see how someone can consider this album more aggressive than TH. Vocals suck so much, it's laughable (sounds like a grumpy old drunk man yelling).
---- They shake your hand and they smile and they buy you a drink They say we'll be your friends we'll stick with you till the end But everybody's only looking out for themselves And you say who can you trust I'll tell you nobody
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| Mikrokosmos Account deleted |
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| RavenKing Posts: 1941 |
Written by [user id=35732] on 05.12.2010 at 02:28 True. And, judging by how poor I consider Burzum when it comes to songwriting, it's better he only wrote lyrics for TH and not music.
---- They shake your hand and they smile and they buy you a drink They say we'll be your friends we'll stick with you till the end But everybody's only looking out for themselves And you say who can you trust I'll tell you nobody
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| RavenKing Posts: 1941 |
Written by [user id=109376] on 05.12.2010 at 02:08 Things like beer, drugs, fuck or whatever mean nothing to me when it comes to rate music. Music on "Transylvanian Hunger" is more aggressive than on the 'wannabe-Motorhead' Darkthrone albums. However, there's a point on which we agree. Among what we can refer to as 'Darkthrone's Peaceville trilogy', I prefer both ABITNS and UAFM to TH.
---- They shake your hand and they smile and they buy you a drink They say we'll be your friends we'll stick with you till the end But everybody's only looking out for themselves And you say who can you trust I'll tell you nobody
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374  |
I think that we can agreethat not all the metalheads like ALL Darkthrone albums. Most of them are just acquired taste. And I like Burzum  Have a nice day guys.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| BitterCOld The Ancient One Admin Posts: 15287  |
Overrated this one back early in my review days. like it a lot, but should be a full point lower.
---- get the fuck off my lawn. Beer Bug Virus Spotify Playlist crafted by Nikarg and I. Feel free to tune in and add some pertinent metal tunes!
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374 |
Written by BitterCOld on 16.04.2011 at 06:01 I did put a 7 for this cd. Good indeed, but not worth of an 8, let alone something higher.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| strade Posts: 677  |
Cool album. "Does your metal knows what metal really means?" As for the ridiculous genre arguments, as far as I'm concerned, there are only two genres: music one likes and music one doesn't. At the end of the day, classification shouldn't matter; only quality should.
---- My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
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| strade Posts: 677 |
Written by [user id=4365] on 03.01.2013 at 22:11 That is very much true, but I was looking at it more from the fault of many who seem to associate genre with quality. Many naysayers here seems to act like something not qualifying as metal (or black metal in particular) automatically makes it an inferior breed of music in comparison. Obviously finding music and describing it helpfully would be more difficult without classifications, but I was using hyperbole. 
---- My lo-fi synth project: http://luciddreamer.bandcamp.com
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| !J.O.O.E.! Account deleted |
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted Written by strade on 03.01.2013 at 22:19 Well in that case I agree with you even if I do make sweeping generalisations about genres myself (i.e. power metal).
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6098  |
Written by strade on 03.01.2013 at 22:01 Give this man a glass of good whisky.
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by Daniell on 04.01.2013 at 13:02 No, because of the exact reason JOOE posted immediately after the post you quoted
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6098 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.01.2013 at 14:05 Opinions, arseholes... You know how it goes. Yesterday I listened to the following albums: Agruss "Morok" Sulphur Aeon "Swallowed By The Ocean's Tide" Flotsam and Jetsam "The Cold" Pink Floyd "Saucerful of Secrets" Peter Gabriel "So" What do they have in common genre-wise? Nothing. Screw genres, listen to music you like. P.S. I do realise we've had this argument several times and I do realise we will never agree, but well, we can always have the argument all over again 
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Daniell on 04.01.2013 at 15:19 you think those albums are all awesome but if someone asks you to recommend something like Agruss, I hope you won't say "well since Peter Gabriel is awesome you should definitely check it cause you will like it" I am sure 99% of the people you so that to in that in instance will run away screaming since it is musically totally different. That's wjy genres are needed to make it easier to recoomiend and find stuff you might like. We might as wel do away with sepcies names of vegetables, fruit, meat etc as well, since it's all vegetable, fruit, meat etc
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374 |
If I jump into a discussion that goes like "so what kind of stuff are we talking about" "Oh you know... Good music". They are just wasting their breath. That's not how a conversation works. It's not like you can recommend stuff like Agruss to anyone. Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.01.2013 at 15:26 I can see how that will turn out: "I like meat" "me too, you should try this" *gives him a clam* "What is this?" "It's some kind of meat... if you like meat then you will like this one too" Dude dies because he's alergic to most seafood. I know this is hyperbole but fuck it... It's the same reasoning if someone just tells me some band is just good when I'm actually asking how do they sound like.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| squidrick420 Posts: 187  |
Written by [user id=1909] on 23.10.2009 at 23:46 If you seriously think metal is about status, you should probably get out...
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