True Norwegian Necro Black Metal as Carpathian Forest describe their own music. Anyone who is familiar with these Norwegian black metal warriors knows that the band stands for unmitigated black metal. But have they stayed true to their course with ‘Defending The Throne Of Evil’? Partially, yes, but only partially. The music is unmistakably black metal but Carpathian Forest seems to have made it a whole lot more accessible, maybe even too accessible... ‘Defending The Throne Of Evil’ opens with a relatively bombastic and quite melodic song, “It’s Darker Than You Think”, that somehow reminds of Mactätus. The faceless keyboards are pompous and luckily have been shoved into the background. The track is compact and powerful but does not really have anything special to offer and the following few songs follow basically the same pattern. It is all very well played, with numerous speed changes and bombastic interludes, but it somehow fails to really impress me. It is not until the fifth song, “Hymne To Døden” that my interest is aroused. Finally Carpathian Forest manages to sound menacing and evil while Nattefrost’s agonized howls chill your spine. Okay, again the keyboards are faceless and redundant but that seems to be the trend of this whole album and one can only wonder why Carpathian Forest did not leave them out all together. Other good and aggressive songs worth mentioning are “One With The Earth” and “Christian Incoherent Drivel”.

Just as I think that the band is not going to surprise me again, “The Old House On The Hill” starts. For a few seconds I’m wondering whether the album has ended and my CD player has skipped to the next one, but no this is still Carpathian Forest. This song sounds like Thorns and I absolutely love it. Hell yeah, for the first time during this album Carpathian Forest breaks free from their self-made shackles of stereotypical black metal single-mindedness. The track drips with atmosphere and although it is absolutely nothing groundbreaking it is this avant-garde touch that saves this album. For Carpathian Forest has one more surprise up their sleeve and it is the last track “Cold Murderous Music”; another avant-garde piece and this one certainly does sound original. It has absolutely nothing to do with black metal or metal but it has atmosphere and feeling. Nattefrost’s whispering on top of a monotone rhythm that reeks of jazz. I wish this album would have had more of these moments but unfortunately most of the album is too straightforward. “Defending The Throne Of Evil” is a very decent black metal album with some very good moments but not enough to be really impressing. My advice is to listen to it first before buying it because this album might not be suitable for old Carpathian Forest fans.