I believe you don't expect from me to tell you neither how the new DARKTHRONE sounds nor if it is good or not. If, on the other hand, there are some hands in the air looking desperately for an answer I can assure them that, yes, "Circle The Wagons" follows the traditions and it rapes asses. Are we OK?

The whole crust-meets-old-and-dusty-Heavy Metal-meets-tombstone-and-reek-of-Death Metal-with-HELLHAMMER-and-MOTORHEAD thing continues here. And it is good, damn it. Once again they will separate the tracks and starting by Fenriz he wrote some pretty headbanging tunes. Starting from "Those Treasures Will Never Befall You" you will notice (except its punking root) the almighty refrain that, no I'm not joking you, brings to mind a lot of OMEN, MANILLA ROAD, IRONSWORD, LONEWOLF or whatever similar you may want to add. And the same can be written for the self titled track which again includes an unbelievable chorus. As for "I Am The Graves Of The 80s", I guess lyrics like these:

can give you a clear idea of what is going on. Once again the sound is as suitable for that music as it can be, dirty and physical but not total chaos. In some moments the vocals and the guitar produce such dynamics that it seems like you are trapped inside an old well. It looks like you are hearing some demo tapes of AXEMASTER or whatever, but done with a very nice way.

Generally the songs written by Nocturno Culto have a more 'Black' aura if we compare them with the Fenriz's ones the recent years. Not that this has changed here but I think we have a move towards a more Thrash-y sound although these haunting slow parts are making their disturbing presence for good. All songs are good but what makes the big difference is without a doubt the weird "Stylized Corpse". The riffing is following multiple patterns, the drumming is also well tight upon and the ending brings some difficult to be described emotions.

The last one is the instrumental "Brann Inte Slottet" that in my ears has a sad aura; I would dare to say that any time I hear it the next record I wanna place in my stereo is ANTISECT's "In Darkness, There Is No Choice". I don't know how this comes but both the very beginning (where they sing: ''Brann Inte Slottet, Brann Inte Slottet'' and the last riff are coming from Crust areas.

Regarding the previous two or three albums we may see a degressive route. "Circle The Wagons" is a total Metal mayhem but I will not deny my preference towards albums like "F.O.A.D." etc. It's not that something has changed, I repeat the whole recipe is the same, maybe a little forward to pure old school Heavy Metal things (the refrains I was talking) but in some songs I wished for more powerful riffing that could remain in your mind better. Except this detail DARKTHRONE remains a true monument in the Metal fields that fights for the real essence in this music continuing the war against all this plastic shit around us. Obey or just fucking die!!!!!!!!!!