Darkthrone
FOAD
Peaceville


With 'FOAD', Darkthrone certainly didn't set out to make the best metal album of the year. In their eyes, 'FOAD' was the only metal album of 2007. Sure, everyone harps on about "classic" this and "oldschool" that, but 'FOAD' absolutely oozes derision - so disillusioned are Darkthrone with today's metal that it seems they now outright refuse to play it. Instead, 'FOAD' offers a re-investigation of the 1970s' and 1980s' fascination with the riff, the solo, and even the ball-twisting falsetto. Whether it matches up to the real thing, or even to old Darkthrone, isn't so much the issue; 'FOAD' is Darkthrone screaming "look at me," and I can't help but indulge them.

2006's 'The Cult Is Alive' hearkened back to the rebellious, vitriolic roots of black metal. With its firm punk foundation and filthy, unapologetically provocative approach it horrified many fans but showed there was life yet in a band which had lately begun to meander. And now 'FOAD' delves even further into the past, yet somehow it's still bitingly relevant. From those perfect riffs on These Shores Are Damned to the stop-start toe-tapper Church Of Real Metal and the hilarious cry of Canadian Metal, this album just couldn't have hit off with a better mix. And still one senses the Darkthrone lads aren't satisfied. Expect a blues tribute next.

Black-n-roll, blackened rock or an angry alcoholic mess. Whatever you want to call it, in a sense there's something uglier, more spiteful and a fuck of a lot more ballsy about Darkthrone today than most extreme metal you care to name, and that's despite their obvious flirtations with the comedic. It comes of a willingness to play whatever they want without fear of alienating fans. The 'FOAD' booklet, devoid of lyrics, reads like a sneering lecture, to say nothing of lyrics laced with scorn for the very masses of adoring bedroom experts which made Darkthrone what they are. That Darkthrone can take this tack and buoy it with both humour and kickarse music speaks volumes. And their language of choice is pure rock'n'roll.

One gets the feeling Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have never felt comfortable conforming to outside pressures, even those of a genre they had a heavy hand in forging. If dusting off their Motšrhead and Manilla Road albums and timewarping back to 1984 is the remedy, then power to them. The result is simple and straightforward and it needs to be heard. Alternatively, to anyone unwilling to wrap their head around the new-look Darkthrone, Fenriz's advice couldn't be clearer. Just "Fuck Off And Diiiieeeee".

Mike Cross