darkthrone-circlethewagons-thumbnail

Darkthrone - Circle the Wagons

Circle the Wagons, liner notes detail

If we accept that financial reward/incentive is one of the chief ways we assign value to social activities, then the free market is clearly telling us to stop producing bands. Supply is overwhelming, discouraging, depressing, and demand is next to nil. There’s little to no money to be made in making or selling of music. Bands are climbing over each other for an opportunity to give their music away for free. I used to think getting music for free was nifty. Now it’s basically a burden. For one of many compelling accounts of the struggles of a contemporary touring band, see here.

If we also accept that online music criticism has essentially become a buyer’s guide, then website/blog write-ups with “where to buy” links are today’s summary paragraph taped up next to record store’s new releases. Criticism and cash register in the same “space” does not for objectivity make. Especially these days since most blogs and websites eschew negative reviews totally (I’m looking at you, new Nachtmystium record). So if there’s no money in music and we’re writing the buyer’s guide, are we betting on a dying horse? Maybe.

“I Am the Working Class”
[audio: DARKTHRONE_IAM.mp3]

Enter Darkthrone, the unabashed buyer’s guide band. Since F.O.A.D. (and maybe earlier… my collection has some mid-period holes), they’ve included a list of “Fenriz’ 10 must-have albums” in the liner notes: obscure thrash, death metal, hardcore, hard rock, etc. that Fenriz likes. I’d imagine they’re not the first band to do this, but like his “Band of the Week” MySpace posts, Fenriz’s liner notes have come to take on a bi-annual column feel. Darkthrone albums appear to be made first and foremost for Darkthrone’s kicks at this point. There’s no point really bashing them or comparing them to older albums because Fenriz and Nocturno Culto don’t care. Humor in music can get slippery and short-circuit attempts at serious analysis, and no one wants to get bent out of shape waxing Christgau over something that amounts to a band in-joke. So while many older fans jumped ship long ago due to a late-career embrace of punk rock and tongue-in-cheek attitude, Darkthrone keeps cranking out albums every couple years, just like they always have.

In interviews, Fenriz has stated one of his most important functions in the metal scene is to recommend good music. Are the top album lists Darkthrone running on creative empty and searching for new ways of relevance, à la Johnny Cash covering NIN and Depeche Mode? Are they embracing the multifaceted potential albums possess as artwork showcase (which I doubt anyone would find fault with lately), fanzine/soapbox, history lesson, credentials list, and promotional outlet? Are they curating an aesthetic of “underground metal” they see as a pantheon larger than themselves? I’m not sure, but I did buy the record, as I do with all music I review. Financial investment encourages the listener to look for the good, if nothing else then for reasons of pride. So proud fuck that I am, I say there are some good songs on Circle the Wagons (Peaceville, 2010). “I Am the Working Class”‘s spacious main riff and no-nonsense lyrics about wage labor, is admirable given Fenriz’ job sorting mail and his long-running staunch refusal to play live. Thousands of hardcore bands have written similar songs, but they weren’t turning down offers for package tours and festival shows that would instantly deliver them from 9-5 drudgery. “Black Mountain Totem” has a couple great riffs and shows that even when playing more a HC or NWOBHM style, Darkthrone still manages to sound like Darkthrone.

“Black Mountain Totem”
[audio: DARKTHRONE_BLACKMOUNTAIN.mp3]

Bottom line is that Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have dedicated their lives to metal, so who is anyone to tell them when to hang it up? Their longevity and conviction in a lot of ways echoes Motörhead. I don’t have every Motörhead record, but I’m glad they’re still out there kicking ass for all us sinners. Is Circle the Wagons essential listening? Probably not. Is Darkthrone’s continued existence essential to modern metal? Definitely.

— Francesco Ferorelli

Amazon (MP3)
Amazon (CD)
Relapse (CD)
The End (CD)

Peaceville (CD, LP)

Amie St. (MP3, currently less than $4)