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Like all the best bands, Darkthrone have long had a deep well of musical inspiration to draw from and they wear their 80s metal influences on their sleeves again here, much of the joy in this album (their 15th) lay in picking them out, be it vocally, lyrically or even, for example, in the introduction to opening track `Dead Early`; a dead ringer to the beginning of `Voivod` by Voivod (and 80s metal aficionados will likely spot at least one other big nod to Snake and co on the disc **). Celtic Frost and Minotaur are some other references (that I detected), while the (surprisingly lavish) liner notes point to Iron Maiden and even Pentagram.
Some will quibble over the amount of tracks present (a meagre 6) but with so much going on (not least the number of `kick-ass` riffs (to quote matyrofevil's review of same album) it doesn`t feel like an insubstantial or laboured release. Long time fans of the band may continued to feel bemused or cheated at the direction the band has taken on their last few releases (A Blaze in the Northern Sky this aint), but converts to recent Darkthrone are unlikely to be disappointed.
`The Underground Resistance` is a clever release from an iconic duo whose very best material might be long behind them, and even though they are a very different band to when they started, they are still pretty damn good at what they do.
** blow the reactor!
7/10
