Circle the Wagons

Since “F.O.A.D.”, these guys have made blackened punk music, and this album is no exception. The production seems cleaner than ever, with audible bass. It’s a first time to hear something this clean from this band. The vocals are usually harsh, but some songs have some singing too, which sometimes sound okay. Well, sometimes it’s not. The guitars and drums play more punk and less black metal, just like their last album. Nothing much has changed much, so if you have heard of" and "Dark Thrones and Black Flags", you know what will this sound like.

I usually find the fast songs to my liking, like “I Am the Graves of the 80s”, for it gives a lot of energy, enough to make your head bang, since it has a lot of punk edge (than black metal) here and there. It sure is catchy, but it’s quite repetitive. "Stylized Corpse" and "Running for Borders" put me in such boredom that might put me to sleep if I’m not doing this review at all. It sounds like a punk version of "Panzerfaust", which is just weird. "Black Mountain Totem" a mid-tempo song I found to my liking in a number of listens. Nice song indeed. “Bränn Inte Slotten”, the only instrumental, starts off by chanting the title and bored me ever since. It feels meaningless, and is lacking direction. Again, this is filler.

Although it has more real songs than fillers, I don’t think that this album is good enough. It still needs a lot of improvement. More punk maybe? But still, I think this alum has more edge than "F.O.A.D." or "Dark Thrones and Black Flags". Buy if you like punk (and black metal, of course) or if you're a Darkthrone fan.

Originally made for http://mystifymyserie.blogspot.com