Darkthrone | 2013 | The Underground Resistance

Black | Heavy Metal | Crust Punk
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Link | mp3 | 320 Kbps

Nocturno Culto (guitar, bass, vocals) and Fenriz (drums, vocals, bass on "The Ones You Left Behind")

Since its beginning, Darkthrone was a peculiar band within the Nordic black metal scene. In fact, they didn't even play black metal in their early days, but rather death metal, like the excellent Soulside Journey –their debut album– shows. The bifurcation would come with the classic A Blaze in the Northern Sky and would extend until Panzerfaust, after which the duo would undertake an intermittent return to death metal, alternating with albums in the black metal vein, not always with positive results. Sardonic Wrath would be the last one in this sequence, and The Cult is Alive would then put the first brushstrokes of a new era in Darkthrone's history.
In their twelfth album, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto took a more disruptive spin than before and ventured without hesitation into the introduction of crust punk elements to their sound. F.O.A.D. would bolster this divergence, adding a new dimension to the black metal/crust punk dicotomy: heavy metal. However, although this exploration provided the already powerful sound of the band with renewed energy, neither these albums nor Dark Thrones and Black Flags nor Circle the Wagons reached the splendour of Darkthrone's more classic records.
In this context, the relevance of The Underground Resistance lies on the fact that it constitutes, precisely, the well-deserved consolidation of the new period. There's no hesitation whatsoever in the sonic abrasion that Darkthrone exerts in this album, which is evident not only in more rapid and aggresive songs, but also in a piece such as "Valkyrie", which has a somewhat melancholic character. The confidence that the duo has developed in this new format is especially reflected in the widespread use of clean vocals, which fits perfectly into the sound that the band has been exploring for the last decade. The composing efforts are solid, and instrumentally, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have already become blood brothers. It is now impossible to classify Darkthrone; pretty much like in the early nineties, they have forged an unrepeatable identity for which The Underground Resistance is the best possible example. Amazing. —IMF

Iron Maiden | 1988 | Seventh Son of a Seventh Son

Heavy Metal
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Link | mp3 | V0

Bruce Dickinson (vocals), Dave Murray (guitar), Adrian Smith (guitar, guitar synth), Steve Harris (bass, strings) and Nicko McBrain (drums)

After the excellent Somewhere in Time, Iron Maiden found themselves in the verge of a dilemma, for sure: Should they return to the formula that preceded Somewhere in Time or should they instead keep on the path which that album had outlined, including synthesizers and a more atmospheric sound? As is clear in Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, the band chose the latter. And it constitutes one of those adventurous decisions that distanced Iron Maiden from a whole litter of bands from their generation, permanently demoted to a second category due to their fear of taking risks. Conversely, the Londoners persisted in the risk associated with polishing their sound and moving it away from the more puerile rock of other NWOBHM acts, a twist that, undoubtedly, let down many fans of that old school, but that in turn translated into the band's trascendence in the long run.
And their step forward was not timid. Seventh Son of a Seventh Son not only deepened the atmospheric formula and the use of synthesizers, but also, for the first time in the band's career, it included orchestral arrengements –synthesized, by the way– and constituted Iron Maiden's first (and only) concept album. The result? The band's last masterpiece until 2000's Brave New World; an album that just does not have low points and that, although true to Iron Maiden's own spirit, marks the first steps into a more powerful branch of heavy metal, including certain prog elements, which curiously, however, is accompanied by some of the most melodically sensitive moments in Maiden's career.
The bar was thus set very high, and hence it was not surprising to see the band succumbing to the temptation of making things easier, returning to old-school metal in No Prayer for the Dying, sadly an album of notorious lower quality, thus confirming that the risk had been great for the band in previous years. Happily, the level of their golden years would return with the new millenium. But that is another story. —IMF