Anatomia NOR: Darkthrone VII (of IX)

 

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FOURTH ERA – EPIC METAL
2011-2015 

16.The Underground Resistance (2013) Running time: 41:41, 7 tracks Three years after "Circle the Wagons," this album was released. After afterwards, it would be another two years before Darkthrone released another one. In other words, in five years, there would be only one album which would serve as both a testament to the era and a legacy of that period. This album is definitely one of the better ones, not only because it made people look at the band's work with renewed interest, but also because it hasn't been replicated (to date), especially since the album itself is, after all, slightly conservative, and one gets the impression that DT wanted to get back on track. But maybe let's start from the beginning. Well, the natural consequence of their musical fascinations was that the band would want to do something in the vein of Manowar or Bathory from the Viking era. They succeeded, but only halfway, and quite literally, as half of the tracks feature Celtic Frost vocals and style, while the other half would  embody more of the Cirith Ungol spirit. Not to mention the occasional fusion / collision of the two worlds. The band didn't go all the way, and while one might get the impression they wanted to, they decided against crossing a certain line, which is a shame. Worse, looking back, the band's fascinations took them in yet another direction, and that's why this is a rare gem in their discography, reminding us that they almost made the leap to power metal. No matter how you look at it, it's quite a long way from playing Death Metal to Epic Heavy Metal. As a curiosity, the final track clocks in at 13:49, which, besides being the band's longest track, also clearly alludes to 1349, the year the Black Death struck Norway and wiped out a huge chunk of population. Personally, I don't understand what's so special about it, to the point that Norwegians fetishize this date, but for a change, Portugal celebrates the year 1755, when there was an earthquake so severe that there was nothing left to salvage, which is the main theme of one of Moonspell's albums. And that;s something more understandable. NEXT: A return to Trad?