Okay, right up front there’s stuff we need to get out of the way: of course I love It Beckons Us All, the latest slab of unadulterated, 100% pure Grade-A metal from the legendary, the colossal, the towering behemoths that are individually Fenriz and Nocturno Culto (aka Ted), and collectively known as Darkthrone. This should not come as a surprise – I love every Darkthrone album. Okay, so right off the bat you’re now warned: there’s little to no objectivity to this review. But as I’ve said over and over again during the eight years I’ve been writing for the site, when do any of these reviews have any objectivity? With the air now clear, let’s dive in and see why I love this album so much. Deal?
We’ll get to the individual songs in a minute, but taken as a whole to my ears It Beckons Us All sounds like the duo have veered slightly from the colder, more primitive structures of Eternal Hails…(reviewed here) and Astral Fortress and embraced more of the attack and vibes that made Arctic Thunder and especially Old Star (kinda reviewed here, since it was my #1 album of the year) latter day classics. We also get the return of Fenriz on vocals, something missing for over a decade now. The production is also sharper: this is the third time the band have recorded at Chaka Khan Studios in Oslo, and the band spent a lot of time layering additional guitar parts and solos, even sharing bass duties. It makes for perhaps the most ambitious sound Darkthrone have ever put to wax, and hearing the distinct guitar channels and keyboard washes and solos somehow serves to strengthen everything Darkthrone has come to embody rather than dilute it. The sound also perfectly captures the STUNNING artwork by Polish artist Zbigniew M. Bielak who also did the exquisite cover art for the band’s re-release of Goatlord.
But what about the actual songs? Let’s get into it: It Beckons Us All opens with “Howling Primitive Colonies” with out-of-this-world synths rushing into the main riff. Fenriz’s drumming is super clear, the ride ringing out really clear and accentuating the fills in the way that reminds you just how good a drummer the man is. It’s a driving, mid-paced number that borrows liberally from Celtic Frost in its slower moments and a classic latter-day Darkthrone opener. Love the bridge section with the chugging. “Eon 3” fades in and shows the sequel that closed Astral Fortress may in fact be an ongoing thing. The opening melody screams vintage Ted riffing, and we get our first dose of Fenriz back on clean vocals. The song practically gallops, and gets downright mean in its middle section. “Black Dawn Affiliation” was the single, and it’s immediately apparent why: the black metal elements are ramped up with an absolute killer heavy rock attack. It’s perhaps the most “metal” song the band have released, supremely catchy and hiding some of those great bends in the riffs I 100% stole when I was writing my first metal songs. There are moments that are positively anthemic on this track. Side A closes with the instrumental “And In That Moment I Knew the Answer” and it’s a brooding, dark number, a perfect way to close the side.
Side B (we’re retro here at 9C) kicks off with the doom-laden and awesomely titled “The Bird People of Nordland” and its heavy footsteps echo a lot of the style Darkthrone have embraced in the last decade: deep, cavernous riffs against a prehistoric beat that resounds across the frozen landscape with every monstrous cymbal crash. About halfway through it takes a leap into faster territory and simply rips. Not to be outdone in the primitive department is the Neanderthal riff that opens “The Heavy Hand.” As the penultimate track it’s the only one I feel really could have been on any of their records, so that means either it’s a definitive Darkthrone track or it’s a repetitive one…maybe both. I really dig its simple cave-man feel, and it has those signature bends that I’ve come to love so much about Darkthrone’s music.
Fittingly, the closing track on It Beckons Us All is the epic: at 10 minutes “The Lone Pines of the Lost Island” grabs your attention with maybe the most un-Darkthrone opening the band has ever created. It’s the band reaching for something new, and it crashes down to the mud, reveling in the filth of utter doom. Then a glimpse of light: harmonized guitars introduce a musical cue that takes the rest of the song home. All in a day’s work for my favorite metal band – Darkthrone have once again crafted an album only they could create, and once again I have fallen for it hard.
May you do the same.
— Chris
It Beckons Us All is available now from Peaceville Records. For more information on Darkthrone, check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.
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