Darkthrone’s brand new studio album »It Beckons Us All« out now on CD/vinyl/digital via Peaceville Records!
Norwegian extreme metal duo Darkthrone is streaming their brand new studio album, »It Beckons Us All«, out this Friday, April 26th, 2024 via Peaceville Records.
Listen to »It Beckons Us All« in all streaming platforms!
Tracklist:
01. Howling Primitive Colonies
02. Eon 3
03. Black Dawn Affiliation
04. And In That Moment I Knew The Answer
05. The Bird People Of Nordland
06. The Heavy Hand
07. The Lone Pines Of The Lost Planet
Courtesy of Peaceville Records:
“A spellbinding chronicle of seductive frozen atmospheres and fearless innovation!”
Pioneers of a sound that changed the world. Lifelong disciples of suspense and mystery. An enigmatic duo like no other, hell-bent on haunting souls through the eternities. There are many things Darkthrone have been called since forming in 1986 and these are but a few, having drawn from a creative well so potent and powerful it turned them into one of Norway’s biggest musical exports. Following from their debut album »Soulside Journey«, the next three full-lengths, often referred to as ‘the unholy three’, set the benchmark for black metal in the early 90s, though in truth they’ve never been the kind to rest on such laurels – distilling elements of vintage punk, doom, thrash and death into their own sonic fingerprint and continuing to test that equation throughout the years. It’s been quite the journey, having won cryptic pair Nocturno and Fenriz legions of loyal fans around the world. This tradition will only continue with latest masterpiece »It Beckons Us All«.
Photos by Peer Olav Kittilsen
Set for release on 26 April 2024, the new music is an intense observation of the world around them – exciting and challenging the listener in equal measure, in the way only they can. Some of the riffs howl across a gallery of ice and snow while others crackle like a volcano awakening from its timeless slumber, Nocturno’s demonic barks ricocheting across the intoxicating structures almost like it’s beaming from long-distant galaxy. As Darkthrone have shown us so many times in the past, their music is as visual as it gets – evoking tangible imagery through the medium of sound. Whether the ideas are sombre, reflective or incensed, they exist as emotional concepts you can see and feel as much as you hear. “I am having difficulties putting into words my personal feelings around the existential title »It Beckons Us All«, I can only hope others out there can feel the darkness that encompasses it.” muses Fenriz.
Never afraid to venture beyond the confines of the extreme metal template they were paramount in creating, there are moments on »It Beckons Us All« that will dazzle and surprise, as well as satisfy fans of old. Nocturno comments: “We recorded in the manner we always do, live, meaning drums and guitar, with another guitar added later. We found a new twist during this process that surely benefited this album. Fenriz did stellar clean vocals on several songs, and his way of thinking creatively made it so good. We also shared the bass work this time around. We added a lot of extra layers like solo guitars… it was just a cauldron of ideas. Instead of finding a plug-in or choir synth patch, we both recorded four vocal tracks each. Darkthrone is an ever-evolving band, as many should know by now, and this album is touching a bit into the heavy genre. I have no idea what genre we are, and have really not cared much about it, but I know for sure it’s metal.”
In that sense, »It Beckons Us All« is very much demonstrative of two visionaries at their world-commanding best. They know what works but more importantly they choose to grow, throwing every ounce of their hearts and souls into evolving the jaw-dropping whirlpool of noise that could only ever have come from their collective minds. There are clean guitars, clean vocals and less typical instruments thrown into the mix, but the approach, intent and ethos at the heart of their fearless artistry remains very much the same. This is music for dreamers who find themselves paralysed by the contrasting beauty and ugliness in the world surrounding them. Never ones to appease the faint-hearted, Darkthrone are as real and human as it gets.
»It Beckons Us All« was recorded in April and May 2023 at Chaka Khan Studios in Oslo, the same location used for the Eternal Hails and Astral Fortress albums, mastered by Jack Control at Enormous Door, with artwork courtesy of Polish artist Zbigniew Bielak.
With an expansive catalogue consisting of a multitude of various genre classics, Darkthrone first arrived on the global stage with their atmospheric and technically accomplished death metal debut, »Soulside Journey« back in 1991, followed by the milestone in black metal that is »A Blaze In The Northern Sky« released the following year, after the intended second album »Goatlord« was essentially scrapped to make way for something more primitive, and paving the way for Darkthrone’s close association with the black metal genre over many years.
»It Beckons Us All« stands as one of the band’s most complete and vast works to date.
Orders available from darkthrone.lnk.to/beckons
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well