Darkthrone "It Beckons Us All" Album Review (Should be call this blackened doom?)

Today I am going to review the new album It Beckons Us All by the black metal band Darkthrone. This is their 21st studio album and third one I've reviewed, following Eternal Hails in 2021 and Astral Fortress in 2022. Over their long career, Darkthrone has gone through many stylistic changes, moving from old school black metal into crust punk and now what I would call a blend of black metal and doom metal.

The 43-minute album contains 7 tracks mostly in the 4-7 minute range, plus one 10-minute epic closer. The lyrics are metaphorical and open to interpretation. The opening track "Howling Primitive Colonies" has a psychedelic atmosphere mixed with traditional slow black metal riffs and drumming. "Eon 3" reminds me of old Black Sabbath with its galloping riffs combined with black metal elements. Halfway through, it slows down into a funeral doom style.

"Black Dawn Affiliation" has more of an accessible "black 'n' roll" or crust punk sound that could work driving on the highway. The instrumental "and in that moment I knew the answer" blends atmospheric guitar passages with black and doom metal sections. "The Bird People of Nordland" seems to be about an ancient indigenous population, employing a range of styles including psychedelic tremolo picking.

While short at 4 minutes, "The Heavy Hand" is incredibly slow and heavy doom/black metal. The 10-minute closing epic "The Lone Pines of the Lost Planet" starts with an unusual clean guitar intro before moving into more familiar Black Sabbath-inspired riffs mixed with tremolo picking and a lonesome psychedelic midsection.

JC Rock and Metal Reviews is a music channel. I mostly do album reviews and album rankings, but I also occasionally do videos where I show vinyl records, as well as CDs. My main genres are Heavy Metal, Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Progressive Rock, Thrash Metal, Death Metal, Progressive Metal, Hair Metal and sometimes I think out of the box with some pop, soft rock and country.
My favorite bands are Metallica, Megadeth, Iron Maiden, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, The Doors, The Beatles, Pink Floyd and of course, Alice Cooper.

FACEBOOK:
  / jcrockandmetalreviews  

TikTok:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMNNq83XD/


CONTACT INFORMATION FOR VCLT, BANDS, COLLABS ETC...
[email protected]

*FAIR USE*

Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research.

Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.

Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.