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/:: Artist :: Darkthrone ::\
:: Album :: It Beckons Us All....... ::
:: Year :: 2024 ::
:: __ _ _ __ ::
-:--\\-----------------------------------------------------------------//--:-
:: \ / ::
:: . Genre :: Black Metal Source :: CD . ::
:: Label :: Metal Army R.date :: 2024-06-07 ::
_::__ Cat.nr. :: ARMY 108 S.date :: 2024-04-26 __::_
::// \\::
::/---------------------------------------------------------------------\::
:: ::
/: Encoder :: LAME 3.100 -V0 :\
..: Bitrate :: avg. 269kbps :..
. Quality :: 44.1 kHz/Joint Stereo .
. Size :: 87.74 MB .
. .
__ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __
.\\\\------- : | ---\ /---------------------\ /--- | : -------////.
+/ -\------- | | ----\ tracklist /---- | | -------/- \+
/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: 1. Howling Primitive Colonies 6:30 ::
:: 2. Eon 3 5:43 ::
:: 3. Black Dawn Affiliation 6:11 ::
:: 4. And in That Moment I Knew the Answer 3:17 ::
:: 5. The Bird People of Nordland 7:27 ::
:: 6. The Heavy Hand 4:18 ::
:: 7. The Lone Pines of the Lost Planet 10:04 ::
:: ::
:: ::
:: ------- ::
.. >> 43:30 ..
__ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __
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+/ -\------- | | ----\ release notes /---- | | -------/- \+
/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: ::
:: With Eternal Hails DARKTHRONE reached its new peak. ::
:: Composition-wise, it was shockingly different than what the ::
:: legendary duo had done before. A beautiful album. Then Astral ::
:: Fortress was announced and my expectations were pretty high. ::
:: However Astral Fortress turned out to be a pretty rushed album. ::
:: Not bad, but a bit dull and not even close to Eternal Hails' ::
:: uniqueness (and I am rather not talking about the kittens ::
:: playing with the balls of wool in the artbook...). So when It ::
:: Beckons Us All was mentioned for the first time I did not know ::
:: whether to have some expectations or rather just accept the ::
:: reality - DARKTHRONE releases a new album and that's pretty ::
:: much it. Fortunately, I am glad that I can say that their new ::
:: material is definitely better than Astral Fortress. Still not ::
:: as good as Eternal Hails but still a very good album. In my ::
:: opinion even better than Artic Thunder or Old Star. ::
:: ::
:: First of all, I think we all should finally admit one important ::
:: thing. Nocturno Culto's vocals are not that good. Not anymore. ::
:: Havent been good since, I dont know, The Underground ::
:: Resistance? He feels so tired and (as if) not interested in the ::
:: stuff at all. His vocals on Eternal Hails were a big surprise ::
:: because they were different. However, this is already the ::
:: second album released after Eternal Hails and he has not ::
:: changed anything a bit. So this time around this singing style ::
:: ain't surprising at all, it's just acceptance of the ::
:: unchangeable: Nocturno Culto's vocals are a bit boring ::
:: nowadays. Fine, we have dealt with him and now let's talk about ::
:: the music. ::
:: ::
:: Music-wise I would describe It Beckons Us All as old school ::
:: death metal. I am glad that finally there are no traces of ::
:: heavy metal or thrash metal (ok, the ending part of "The Lone ::
:: Pines of the Lost Planet" has some heavy metal riffing). This ::
:: is a pure death metal album in a slow/middle tempo with ::
:: non-death metal vocals. Whether we talk about the second half ::
:: of "Howling Primitive Colonies", "Eon 3" or "The Bird People of ::
:: Nordland", all those are pure death metal pieces. Regarding ::
:: "Eon 3" I am glad that this song exists because after awful ::
:: "Eon 2" on Astral Fortress, Soulside Journey's "Eon" finally ::
:: gets a good sequel. "Eon 3" is much slower than "Eon 2". It's ::
:: not even that technically advanced, however it is a pure ::
:: rifforama with a more consistent songwriting. That is why I ::
:: like it much better. Its super heavy ending totally gets me ::
:: every time! ::
:: ::
:: With Eternal Hails DARKTHRONE wanted to bring a new direction ::
:: for the band. They said they were not interested in fast and ::
:: short songs anymore. Looking at Astral Fortress and It Beckons ::
:: Us All we can say that they are not interested in long songs ::
:: anymore as well. Even though composition-wise and mood-wise ::
:: both successors are similar to Eternal Hails, the songs are ::
:: with some exceptions much shorter. It is not a negative ::
:: criticism, just some random facts. Out of the three latest ::
:: records this one is the longest one. However it contains seven ::
:: songs (Eternal Hails had only five songs). ::
:: ::
:: Also the duo fixes their poor attempt to compose an ::
:: instrumental dungeon synth song on Astral Fortress ("Kolbotn, ::
:: West of the Vast Forests") as their new instrumental song with ::
:: a fateful name "And At That Moment I Knew The Answer" is a ::
:: beautiful doom metal instrumental with cachy riffs. It's ::
:: somehow short but sweet. If DARKTHRONE happens to compose an ::
:: instrumental song in the future again, let it be like this one! ::
:: However, the dreamy moments are immediately crushed by the ::
:: dirty raw beginning of "The Bird People of Nordland". This is ::
:: the second longest song on the album and it's a banger like ::
:: hell! Its garage-like feeling is destroying and slayerish ::
:: ending is killing. ::
:: ::
:: So that means this album can also be very melancholic. Whether ::
:: you will be thinking about space, stars, something nice you ::
:: experienced or whatnot, you will definitely find yourselves ::
:: thinking while listening to the slow rhythms and hypnotic parts ::
:: like those in "Howling Primitive Colonies" or "The Lone Pines ::
:: of the Lost Planet". "The Lone Pines of the Lost Planet" is the ::
:: longest song on the album and with its unorthodox songwriting ::
:: and mood it is somewhat a continuation of Eternal Hails' Lost ::
:: Arcane City of Uppσkra and Astral Fortress' The Sea Beneath the ::
:: Seas of the Sea. A long song with a complex songwriting and ::
:: some pretty unusual moments for a DARKTHRONE song. However "The ::
:: Lone Pines of the Lost Planet" is just a "what it could have ::
:: been if..." when I compare it to the mentioned songs in the ::
:: previous sentence. It has the similar song structure but its ::
:: middle part literally calls for a more interesting composition ::
:: (there's something missing). Fortunately the Metallica-like ::
:: ending riff sweeps potential bad taste on your tongue away. ::
:: Still a very good attempt to compose a progressive metal song. ::
:: I will not fogive DARKTHRONE one thing related to this song. ::
:: After the sweet picking intro a beautiful catchy riff begins ::
:: and after it stops it is never heard again! This is literally a ::
:: crime... The riff is so good that if the song only had this one ::
:: riff, it would have been a masterpiece! ::
:: ::
:: The last thing I would like to talk about is "The Heavy Hand". ::
:: With its structure and no development it feels like a leftover ::
:: from Astral Fortress. It has a killer riff here and there but ::
:: when I compare this song to the rest of the songs on It Beckons ::
:: Us All it just really pales in comparison. I think I would have ::
:: scored this album a little higher hadn't this song been present ::
:: here. But this song and not very interesting Culto's vocals are ::
:: two really negative things about this album. ::
:: ::
:: I am glad that It Beckons Us All exists. After not that ::
:: interesting previous album this one proves that DARKTHONE skill ::
:: kicks ass. It proves that DARKTHRONE has still much to say and ::
:: they are still able to please listeners' ears. Forget black ::
:: metal, there is none. This is a death metal album. Period. Also ::
:: I love the abstract album cover. It's very dark, very grim and ::
:: there is still something new to find at each new look. ::
:: ::
:: . _ _ . ::
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__\____ :: ____ ___\ _ / BERC : 2024 \ _ /___ ____ :: ____/__
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