It Beckons Us All…… by Darkthrone | Album Review
With their 20th album, the Norwegian legends continue to defy legacy in favor of their own road
- Genre: Black / Doom Metal
- Members: Nocturno Culto, Fenriz
- Length: 44 Minutes
- Label: Peaceville Records
- Released: 2024
No Time Like the Present
Nostalgia has been in vogue for what feels like a large chunk of the back half of my tenure on Earth.
Understandable, given the comfort it can offer: a reminder of youth, or “simpler” times — a security blanket sorely needed as we continue to be thrust from various dream states into the searing light of the nightmarish understanding that is a world vastly more chaotic and unstable than most of us could have rightly imagined. The movie industry continues to produce sequels and legacy reboots, largely shunning the unexpectedness of a new IP for the safety of the familiar.
Meanwhile, metal, a genre whose many worshippers would claim is forward-thinking and evolving (and in many regards, I would like to agree), sees legacy acts continue to dominate the largest stages, with tours like Sick New World and Inkarceration comprised of a who’s-who of yesteryear groups, with only glimmers of new blood caught in the froth to hint at a future beyond the past.
Bands like Megadeth and Metallica were highlighted for releasing albums (the former’s The Sick, The Dying… And the Dead in 2022, and the latter’s 72 Seasons in 2023) containing songs that skewed toward their thrash origins. Few are those twilight groups whose forays into sounds beyond their heyday are praised; many would rather scream for the hits to be played and damn the new.
If this sounds like me reverse-shouting at clouds, old man-style, it’s only partially true. Though I tend to wane nostalgic as a matter of personal principle, I absolutely partake in it as well.
I more recently saw Queensryche perform both their EP and The Warning in entirety, which was richly fulfilling. Megadeth is one of my favorite acts, and I’ve seen more than almost any band I can mention. If a group can tap into some of their youthful energy 30+ years into their career, and it slaps, I’m all about it. Good music is good, and all that.
But there’s something to be said for the band that fears not change and ploughs through time without concern or heed for nostalgia’s alluring currents.
Enter Norway’s Darkthrone, who in 1990 debuted with the progressive-flavored death metal album Soulside Journey before immediately pivoting to black metal, where they became one of the earliest establishers of the Norwegian scene via their triple-threat of A Blaze in the Northern Sky (1992), Under a Funeral Moon (1993), and Transilvanian Hunger (1994), which cemented them as one of the most influential bands in the genre.
As the years passed, they continued to evolve their sound, experimenting with different styles and production values. 2006 marked their first real separation from black metal with The Cult is Alive, which incorporated crust punk elements, while Old Star (2019), Eternal Hails…… (2021), and Astral Fortress (2022) ushered in a more progressive, doom metal-centered approach. Even when they returned to a rawer black metal sound on Arctic Thunder in 2016, they brought their newer influences along for the ride to spice things up.
Now, a scant two years removed from Astral Fortress, the dynamic duo of Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have unleashed their twentieth studio album upon the world. It Beckons Us All……. continues their foray into the adventurous, riff-y doom crystallized on their last two albums while showcasing their continued unwillingness to rely on the heights of their legacy to dictate their musical path.
Here, they have cultivated seven lumbering, deliberate heavy metal tracks, with a strengthened focus on atmosphere and driving riffs. An organic, spacious production lets every piece of the musical puzzle stretch itself out in luscious revelry, a venerable feast for the ears that makes the whole affair an endless joy to listen to from start to finish — an experience enriched by its palatable 44-minute runtime.
Some may find less value in the more spoken-word affair of songs like opener “Howling Primitive Colonies,” but for my money, I find their implementation complimentary of the song’s pacing and composition, which, in tandem with the vocals, facilitates a sense of some esoteric ritual being performed. It’s easy to imagine candle circles and the haze of arcana wafting through dripping Plutonian catacombs as Nocturno and Fenriz summon eldritch aberrations via the considerate and patient execution of their songcraft. The album is evocative of a steadfast march through frigid non-euclidean lands, inexorable in its movement, careful of its footing.
While a few songs rise above as personal favorites — see “Black Dawn Affiliation,” “The Bird People of Nordland,” and “The Lone Pines of the Lost Planet,” they hardly come at the cost of their brethren. Even the instrumental interlude “And In That Moment I Knew the Answer” operates as a necessary part of the sonic whole, acting as a serene, albeit mystery-inducing respite separating the more energetic and dynamic bookends of aforementioned tracks “Black Dawn Affiliation” and “The Bird People of Nordland.”
I’d predicted earlier that Darkthrone would threaten to take all with this release, and considering how inescapable It Beckons… has been for me, I’m thinking Past-Me was on the money.
With over three decades to their name, one could forgive Darkthrone a return to the safety of the black metal sounds that made them legends. No doubt many fans would appreciate the attempt and many more would be the article written in general awe and praise of the decision.
Instead, much like similarly transformative acts such as Katatonia, Opeth, Bring Me The Horizon, or Rush, one has the understanding that Darkthrone writes in service of their own creative questing and not to chase bygone years — this is the band who haven’t toured since ’96 and turned down a coveted award, after all. Whomsoever takes the journey with them is welcome, but there’ll be no kowtowing to the ravenous appetites of comfortable expectations.
It may sound silly, but there’s a measure of bravery in the approach, which I think we could use more of in our art and entertainment. They say art imitates life and vice-versa… What is either without the thrill and surprise of discovery? There’s nothing wrong with the comfort of nostalgia — it can fortify and enrich us in difficult times — but we should be careful not to sacrifice the unknown at its altar, either.
Twenty albums and thirty-plus years into their storied and legendary career, Darkthrone continues to wage war against expectation. While It Beckons Us All……. may not mark another left-turn shift into uncharted waters, it nonetheless represents a band unwilling to compromise on their vision… and leaves one wondering when and what they may cook up next.
If Darkthrone has proven anything with their mercurial discography, it’s that you should never get too comfortable: They might just be plotting a journey most unexpected, and all the sweeter for it.
