I have been following Darkthrone's career long enough to understand, or even better sense, the band's ever increasing need to expand their musical horizon - a need that was clearly audible in their 2006 release "The Cult Is Alive" and one which always found me completely supportive. I mean, I personally find nothing wrong in incorporating either Punk or Rock n'Roll elements in your music, providing that you manage to retain your character and personal style in the process and somehow Darkthrone always managed to achieve that. With that in mind, I was quite eager to get my hands on the band's next effort - one that was released sooner than most people's expectations and which comes under the highly-controversial title "F.O.A.D"!

Well, if you thought that "The Cult Is Alive" was a daring album then the nine compositions that the duet Nocturno Culto/Fenriz have prepared for you will almost certainly cause your jaw to drop - the main problem here, though, is that this will not always happen for the best of reasons.

Darkthrone in the year 2007 continue to build their compositions on simply structured riffs, yet the addition of numerous melodic bridges and solos (yes, you heard right) make them sound more melodic than ever and that would have been fine, providing that their personal skills and musical outlook would enable them to come up with a positive result. Yes, the band's personal signature can still be found in these new songs, yet this is the first time where I personally felt that the unholy duet tried to bite off more than they could chew, resulting in "F.O.A.D" being the first album in the band's career which displays some of the best and also the worst moments in the band's history.

The band's past stability in terms of musical direction was mainly attributed to the fact that Nocturno Culto has always been the driving force in terms of composing material, so Fenriz's further involvement in that field contributed to the creation of a much more varied and challenging release. Unfortunately, though, the majority of Fenriz's compositions like the Rock n'Roll sounding "Raised On Rock" and the punk anthem "F.O.A.D" seem to lack inspiration or real potential, leaving only the 80's classic metal sounding "The Church Of Real Metal" as a promising example of the skinsman's creative skills. On top of that, his attempts on more challenging vocal performances such as the one in the closing theme of the otherwise killer "Canadian Metal" can only be described as a total disaster, creating a huge question mark as to why they were included in the song in the first place.

Nocturno Culto's compositions, on the other hand, seem not only to have retained their quality and class but also to have further matured, resulting in some killer guitar performances such as those in the opening track "These Shores Are Damned" and the Celtic Frost influenced "The Banners Of Old" - both of which feature an array of well connecting and catchy guitar riffs which will certainly please the band's loyal fans. The most inspiring moment of the album is the four and a half minute closing epic "Wisdom Of The Dead" - a composition which was originally featured in the band's recent EP "N.W.O.B.H.M", and which is here provided with a much more powerful killer ending theme. Further Celtic Frost references can be found in "Splitkein Fever" and "Pervertor Of The Seven Gates" - both of which are quite classic Darkthrone in their outlook, yet the simplicity of their nature does not allow them to compare with some of the above mentioned killers.

Darkthrone have reached a very crucial stage in their career where huge questions on issues of creativity need to be answered and that is quite normal for any band that's been around for the last twenty years. Even though "F.O.A.D" has it faults, some of which are simply unforgivable, it is the most appropriate album to be released by the two Norwegians at this moment in time. Why? Simply because it has managed to reveal the band's strengths and weaknesses and will hopefully enable them to envision a future where both artistic freedom and capabilities are going to be well weighted prior to any other album being brought to life.

****

Review by John Stefanis