ALBUM REVIEW: It Beckons Us All – Darkthrone

DARKTHRONE are a band who have constantly reinvented themselves with their music whilst still staying true to themselves and their roots, all the time never bowing to any trends. From being a pivotal part of the second wave of Norwegian black metal in its early years to making music with doom and punk influences as time went on, the duo of Fenriz and Nocturno Culto are a law unto themselves, and that’s isn’t ever changing in any way, shape or form.

Another thing that DARKTHRONE are is a band who constantly bring out new music, and their latest album It Beckons Us All (incredibly the band’s 21st record) is their fourth in five years, which shows how consistent they are with their music, and how much they still love what they do.

Howling Primitive Colonies kicks things off and it’s mid paced grove and Nocturno Culto‘s almost spoken word vocals, evokes a Buried Alive by VENOM-like vibe and gets the album off to a gripping start. DARKTHRONE up the pace with what follows though as the galloping riffs of Eon 3 and the moody and atmospheric Black Dawn Affiliation follow on, and DARKTHRONE enthusiastically get on with doing what they do best.

The mournful And In That Moment I Knew The Answer and the darkly anthemic The Bird People Of Nordland (which morphs into a fantastic speed metal anthem halfway through the track) show the band at their most experimental and it sounds huge.

The album concludes with the doom laden and aptly titled The Heavy Hand before The Lone Pines Of The Lost Planet finishes things off in a triumphant fashion, showing DARKTHRONE sounding as powerful as ever over crunching riffs and that classic grizzled Fenriz groove with Nocturno Culto‘s soaring vocals but also with an experimental tone over the whole song, showing the eclectic nature of DARKTHRONE and their music, and it is a classic way to finish thing off.

It Beckons Us All takes hold of DARKTHRONE‘s classic metal influences and the band put their own stamp on the classic metal sound throughout this album. It’s heavy but in a more macabre way and conjures up an eerie atmosphere all the way through. While there are still punk and doom influences in the band’s sound, this is very much a classic metal  record, in both sound and spirit, and delivered with passion and grit.

With It Beckons Us All, DARKTHRONE have brought out another album on their own terms and it sounds like only they can, and while the prospect of DARKTHRONE taking to the stage again to play songs from this album (their refusal to play live is another thing that shows exactly why the band do exactly what they want) seems further and further away, you can always rely on them to produce killer records, which is exactly what they have done here.

Rating: 8/10

It Beckons Us All is out now via Peaceville Records. 

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