Peaceville : 2007
Format : CD

New Darkthrone truly divides people: some hail the new, rocking direction accompanied with a snotty, not always so serious attitude as a welcome and succesful shedding of skin, whilst others are all too ready to proclaim the death of the true Darkthrone and dub this renewed band as a mockery of what once was.

Well, if anyone genuinely expects that the duo of Fenriz and Nocturno Culto are capable of, even if they wanted to, re-capture and re-create the spirit of the classic trilogy of A Blaze In The Northern Sky, Under A Funeral Moon and Transilvanian Hunger, they can just as well climb a tree and bring me the moon. Sorry, boys, that ship sailed a long time ago. And what we have now is a Darkthrone that’s older, has seen more of the world, and is tired of wearing masks in more ways than one. And they won’t settle with reliving the glories of yesterday.

This is instantly recognizable as Darkthrone, although from the start it is also obvious that this is in many ways different from the aforementioned classics. I would say that if one sought a point of comparison in Darkthrone’s older discography, one should look to Panzerfaust: this has the same rocking Black Metal vibe to it, with the trademark Darkthrone-sound combined with a bit of Hellhammer and, in the case of F.O.A.D., a fair share of Punk. And you know what? It works. F.O.A.D. is a fucking good album. Sure, it ain’t exactly up there with the classic albums that have quite rightly become milestones of Black Metal, but honestly, it’s not far from them either. It’s raw, angry, and Darkthrone to the bone with the vicious vocals of Fenriz and Nocturno Culto, and Nocturno’s personal style of tearing sounds from his guitar. I always dug the old school riffing on Panzerfaust, and there’s plenty of that on offer here, with especially the opener These Shores Are Damned and Canadian Metal being standout tracks.

But in the end, I guess it’s not really the musical direction people have a gripe with because, I mean, there’s always been a lot of Punk influence in Darkthrone. What most people who bitch can’t stand is, I think, the changed lyrical direction: from songs about Satanism, the occult and other standard timbre of Black Metal to songs about how good Metal is, great Canadian Metal songs and stuff like that… well, I can sort of see their point, but perhaps I just don’t take music seriously enough for it to stop me enjoying a great album. Especially as there are tracks with more “standard” lyrics on here as well.

Oh well. To each their own, right? F.O.A.D. is a great album. Over and out.

Websites : darkthrone.no | myspace.com/officialdarkthrone