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DARKTHRONE
It Beckons Us All

Peaceville (2024)
Rating: 7/10

After the comedy capers on the cover of 2022’s Astral Fortress, the Norwegian duo of Ted “Nocturno Culto” Skejellum and Gylve “Fenriz” Nagell return, rather quickly, with their more serious looking It Beckons Us All. As I expected this is another foray in Celtic Frost-inspired landscapes as the double act grunts, grooves and occasionally recycles their way through a mix of the vast, the doomy and, at times, the patience testing.

There’s no denying the ability of Darkthrone to create abyssal atmospheres and gargantuan riffs that become instant earworms, but as with a lot of their later material any glimmer of excitement seems to become quickly dampened with the soggy mires they construct. Now, I’m a big fan of their leathery vintage blackened heavy metal but I do understand the gripes of those seeking something more.

Opener ‘Howling Primitive Colonies’ predictably oozes like black doom, slithering across the frosty tundra in conjuration of Tom G. Warrior. I do wonder for how long the twosome can keep dredging Celtic Frost’s cold lake, so to speak. The slow, doomy passages feel longer and will no doubt disappoint the “fans” still craving Transylvanian Hunger (1994), but for me, well, it’s my opinion that Darkthrone needs to shift into a new chapter and not succumb to what are essentially predictable soundscapes.

‘Eon 3’ mixes the usual mid-80s style of oily riffage with a clearer vocal wail, but to an extent many of the lyrics are just nonsense outpouring echoing through further doom-laden textures. Yes, it is catchy, particularly the opening chords of the cosmically abrasive ‘Black Dawn Affiliation’, but it seems that whichever riff shift the guys turn to, it’s a laborious slog. The exceptions on this 43 minute opus are the niftier strains during the second half of ‘The Bird People Of Nordland’ and the sinister subtlety shown on lengthy closer ‘The Lone Pines Of The Lost Planet’, although a majority of what’s vomited out here is Celtic Frost in doom metal mode but with on occasional glints of excitement as with the twisted riffs of ‘The Heavy Hand’.

The reality is, I’ll dig this album for a short time then slot it on the shelf with the other similar sounding outings that have emerged over the last few years. I just don’t know why this album doesn’t sit right with me; is it the lack of vim or the all too doomy regression? Was it rushed to exorcise the fleeting demon of Astral Fortress, or is it just Darkthrone being lacklustre in their old age?

For me, It Beckons Us All can be summed up by a few lyrics featured in ‘The Lone Pines Of The Lost Planet’: “And there they were, disheartened and age-ridden, creaking moans heard by none”, pretty much says it all. As does this line from ‘The Bird People Of Nordland’: “We never felt this way before….”. After 37 years, the Darkthrone groove fails to move me.

Neil Arnold

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