Okay, lock up your children once again, Norway's finest kings of unholy black metal return with, what for me, remains one of my favourite black metal albums of all time. This time, the band combine the sonic, wintry assaults of the earlier efforts with true Hellhammer/Celtic Frost morbidity, and vocally is grimly, raw and rough more than ever before, bringing a level of decipherable yet gravelly gloom. Only the first cut, 'En Vind...' and 'Hans Siste Vinter' bring back that nocturnal, freezing speed that made you feel so remote on previous outings, but you'll become drowned in the crushing weight of 'Beholding The Throne Of Might' and 'Triumphant Gleam' which borrow heavily from the black metal days of Venom/Celtic Frost and the likes, in the sense the riffs are grey and warped, but this is just taking from the old school black bible and re-inventing, making 'Panzerfaust' a wonderfully eerie and gritty trip through the icy tundra only Darkthrone can create.
The back of the cd may state, 'THE MOST HATED BAND IN THE WORLD', but Darkthrone will always remain one of the most potent, scathing and brilliant.
8/10
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