Not too long after the release of Darkthrone’s last album, “The Cult Is Alive” they return with a single taken from that record, “Forebyggende Krig”, on black wax. Although they always said that Darkthrone would not release any singles, it seems that they are starting to suffer from dementia, as this in in fact is their very first single (if we would be that kind to see “Too Old, Too Cold” as an EP).
The A-side of this 7” EP has the title track, ‘Forebyggende Krig’, which is the closing track of their last full-length album. The song has that same vibe as the album, moving away from their true and necro sound of the early nineties but without sounding anything whimpy at all. In fact, they get to sound as evil as always but inheriting some more rock ‘n’ roll into their song, which even results in having a real guitar solo at the end of the song. Well done, of course, but still this song is no surprise as it was taken off “The Cult Is Alive”. The B-side, however, is more interesting as this features a cover by Testors, for those who are not familiar with this band, it is a punk band that exploded from New York’s expanding punk scene at the end of the 70’s. Testors had a sound that was punky but still had a melodic edge and a garage attitude, which seemingly appeals to the Darkthrone guys, as this cover is very well done and sound as honest as any of the original Testors recordings. Fun fact is that this song features Fenriz on vocals, it gives the song a very accurate sound as Fenriz sounds more of an old Misfits fan than any grimm and frostbitten metalhead.
It is hard to give this release an honest mark, as this still feels as a rather cheap way to make some money, putting an album track on a 7” EP and adding a cover track to it to give it something extra. Still, the B-side is that very fucking cool it is easy to forgive them. For collectors, this 7” EP is exclusively available through the Peaceville mailorder and limited to a 2.000 numbered copies.
