Now I understand what Darkthrone has been doing for the past few years. That's who I thought I was listening to when I first put this on. Then I had to check the iTunes again to see if this wasn't some long, lost Venom album. Too heavy for the punks, but too sloppy for the headbangers, this is is one of the first crust punk albums. It's a classic. It sounds a whole of a lot like early Venom, same loose and ragged feel, inspired by politics and history instead of faux-Satanism. Yet there is an expansiveness that is weird, hinting at many metallic things to come, like grindcore and Viking metal. The excellent songwriting holds everything together, since the band seem ready to fall apart into chaos at any time. And keyboards on something this homely? In the 80's? What pariahs they must have been. Misunderstood geniuses always are.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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