Hate Them

Darkthrone – Hate Them (Moonfog)
These Norwegians have been going strong for about 15 years now, never straying from their roots, never changing their sound, never really progressing, always staying true. Some people would say a bit too true. I’d agree. The material here sounds dated, old, rehashed stuff. Not bad, mind you; this is still excellent black metal the way it was meant to be done, with huge grooves and warbled & buzzed guitars and bass, with tight drums, screamed/rasped vocals and dark, dark, “troo” themes. And they succeed in doing that, but not much else. Which I guess is a great achievement in itself. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m tired of getting the same great music from these guys and I wish they would sometimes make some great music with a little twist, and over many years, these little twists would add up and make the band sound fresh. By itself, the album stands any test you could put it through; when viewed as a part of their rich history, it stumbles and falls on its face. Nonetheless, add-worthy, even if just to honor one of the founding bands of the genre, and not for the meek.
Recommended Tracks:
1) Starts out with a slow, moody, doomy intro with cool samples and then moves into a mid-tempo black metal dirge. Very cool.
2) Nice drums, with the better parts coming towards the end.
3) FCCs
4) This is in Norwegian, and the title means something like “extreme in life” or something like that (ask RoR, damnit!). It’s just a sign of how true they are to include a song with that title and that kinda of message. Kinda silly, if you think about it.
5) Eh, pretty average musically, but it has a great vocal delivery which saves the day.
6) The most melodic of the album, it actually sounds a little like punk-rock. Not bad, but I can’t get over the cheesy lyrics (“Keep kicking that litter our way/We ain’t about to throw the fight here”).
7) More punk-ish sounding, but the double bass on this is excellent. Once again, cheesy lyrics - “Black metal is the devil’s fuel!”- that practically ruin the damn song. I mean, come the fuck on, who are you trying to fool? FCC