arcane-beautiful Darkthrone have been a band I've had a fond interest in for a few years. If I'm being honest...I haven't heard any of their early stuff. I know it exists, I just haven't gotten around to listening to any of it or finding any of their albums in shops.

I know of the dramatic change these guys have done and I know there is mixed feelings towards their change from Black Metal to a more Crust Punk sound, but in all fairness...I'm all for it.

I respect these guys more than I enjoy their music. It takes a lot of guts to just do what you want these days...and this is exactly what these guys. They do what they want, release when they want and just do it for the pure enjoyment. Also, I totally respect the bands ideals of supporting how music is bought and sold (e.g. CDs, vinyls, tapes)

So...having enjoyed there past few releases (FOAD and Dark Thrones & Black Flags)...how does this one match up.

I admit, I do prefer the direction these guys are going in. With less of a black metal feel, and more of a nostalgic metal feel, the band are progressing into nostalgia (a paradox, if you must know) in a very positive light. With there influences shining forth, the band may not be bringing something incredibly new to the table, but its still what these guys enjoy doing.

Some criticisms can be pretty obvious, for example, the vocals at times sound very badly recorded and even the instruments can have a lack lustre feeling at times. But...the material is still there. And in all fairness, the album has better songs and recording quality than The Sex Pistols first album.

1. Those Treasures Will Never Befall You – A brilliant intro to the album. Great mix of thras, punk and Viking metal. I love Fenriz's vocals in this song. 9/10

2. Running For Borders – A song that gives me an early Iron Maiden vibe for some odd reason. The vocals are the weakest point on this song. Not a big fan of Nocturno's fake Cronos vocals. 6/10

3. I Am The Graves Of The 80's – A weird title for a song. I like the thrashy vibe to the song, but the quality of the vocals I'm not 100% loving. Great riffs throughout. 7/10

4. Stylized Corpse – Probably has some of the most interesting lyrics in a Darkthrone song. A very doomy and gloomy song. One of the most 'black metal' moments on the album. 9/10

5. Circle The Wagons – One of my favourite Darkthrone songs. I was imprised by Fenriz's clean vocals in this song. A song that incorporates all of the bands influences into one. Pretty impressive composition. 10/10

6. Black Mountain Totem – One of the more epic moments on the album. Some really killer riffs on this song. Shame, the vocals let the song down. 7/10

7. I Am The Working Class – A very cheesy and punky song. Being working class myself, I can relate to the lyrics. I like the suprising ending at the end as well. 9/10

8. Eyes Burst At Dawn – Another song mixing traditional metal with black metal vocals. A bit like a slow Venom. I love the phaser on the guitar solo. 6/10

9. Bränn Inte Slotte – An interesting instrumental to end off the album. One of the strongest songs on the album, oddly enough. 9/10

CONCLUSION: Darkthrone by far aren't my favourite band. I do like them, and I kind of buy their albums now, mainly because they are an underground band, and I really respect what they do. This is my favourite album by them so far, and I might even take a listen to the new album as well. I like the direction these guys are going in, especially with the nostalgia feel towards the songs.

7/10

Warthur Circle the Wagons finds Darkthrone positioning themselves solidly within the Motorhead-influenced strand of crust punk - complete with clean vocals. Consequently, black metal purists will probably be very disappointed with the album, but I rather like it; Fenriz and Nocturno Culto are clearly having a hell of a lot of fun here, the sort of fun which crept into some of the earlier Darkthrone black metal recordings (come on, Transilvanian Hunger had its tongue at least partly in cheek) and which drained away in their later black metal releases as the process of producing albums seemed to become a chore for them.

I'd much rather listen to Darkthrone playing something they're clearly excited by, even if it isn't what I usually expect from them, than to listen to them going through the motions as though somehow magically they're going to make a second Blaze In the Northern Sky (or whichever your favourite classic-era Darkthrone album is) by forcing themselves to play in a style they're no longer excited by.

Vehemency Circle the Wagons continues in the wake of Darkthrone’s other recent albums. Basically, the album is a mixture of all the influences they’ve got from different metal bands that existed before the whole second wave of black metal (just look at the songtitles such as ”I Am the Graves of the 80s”). And all this is done in a bit tongue-in-cheek spirit, which is another common feature in this later era of Darkthrone.

The new album welcomes at least one new (or more dominant than before) feature: clean singing. This is most prominent on the chorus of the first track ”These Treasures Will Never Befall You” and the title track. This new element gives new energy to the music, and the title track actually belongs to the highlights of Circle the Wagon, being such an epic song fitted into less than 3 minutes. Otherwise I don’t see many differences here, basically just riff-dominant metal that I wouldn’t try to categorize too precisely. ”Black Mountain Totem” presents the best riffs that Darkthrone has come up with lately.

Although generally getting lots of negative feedback, I would lie if I said that Circle the Wagons sucked. It is very enjoyable metal to my ears, just not that kind of black metal that one would like to listen to in dark forests and graveyards. Circle the Wagons is more like an evening spent in a local pub with some Manilla Road playing in the background. Which is fine with me also.

DefeatedWorld Each year i'm surprised more seeing 2 members can be editing year after year good discs without declining musically, but Darkthrone have this experience that does that his step is more high.

Circle the Wagons is a new album, continuing the stage 80 ' that go now. It continues without being the perfect album, but ot for it is necessary to despise, since there are people who does not accept the 'new' Darkthrone.

Fenriz returns to use these clean voices that so much we were longing for of Storm or Isengard, though a bit more adapted to this style, 'Those treasures will never befall you', 'Circle the Wagons' It is a clear example. In short, one more disc for the collection, I deign of listening since it is a good way of returning to listen to something with sound of the old school!!

look_for_the_truth And so we see the continual decline of one of black metal's former greats to the level of a sub-par over-angry punk band. Avoid this tragedy at almost all costs, if you, like me, are a big fan of the Darkthrone that gave us such BM classics as transylvanian hunger, under a funeral moon, and a blaze in the northern sky.

This is an album with almost no reedeeming features. However, I feel a little mean saying that about an album that still broadly falls within the rock/metal end of the music spectrum, so i'll put it like this:

This album is almost certainly better than Britney Spears' latest. If that is enough for you, then buy it. If not, stay away.