Darkthrone – Astral Fortress

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35 years now and the Norwegian duo Gylve “Infidel Castro” Fenriz and Nocturno Culto have perceptively been tackling various styles within the spectrum of metal. Even with their 20th album “Astral Fortress”, Darkthrone goes beyond the spectrum of black metal, their sound now takes inspiration from heavy/doom metal. While the duo’s songwriting remained steeped in the throwbacks bringing nuances to Celtic Frost and Manilla Road on the new album, Darkthrone marked a remarkable shift from the early days with the 2013 album “The Underground Resistance”, it was clear that the duo had to wear new gauntlets. Apparently, since the band’s 2019 album “Old Star”, Darkthrone found its musical inspiration from classic 70’s hard rock and the 80’s muse of classic doom metal.

As its predecessor “Eternal Hails……”, Darkthrone continues with a similar style with some slight differences between the two records. The songs lean maybe somewhat more towards classic metal stomp and raw charisma this time. The opening track “Caravan of Broken Ghosts” begins with a mellow acoustic guitar intro before the fuzzy guitar riffs accompany the slow drumming. The track however follows the old-school riffing pattern with a refined technique, which combines low resonant vocals and raw guitar sound fully laden with ominous doom riffs. While there are still some black metal trademarks within the contents of the new songs that will satisfy the fans, “Impeccable Caverns of Satan” opens in a glorious riff craft in which the sonic identity of the band offers some old-school riffing.

In some ways, listening to these hoary riffs and the raspiness of the vocals, one can grasp some early influences of raw black metal. “Astral Fortress” does not reinvent itself. The songwriting expands on the previous album but manages to sound fresh. Darkthrone‘s lyrics and music still remain as nihilistic and ominously as the early years with its unique hazy atmosphere and psychedelic elements utilized in the tracks. The drumming in the album can be monotonous at times with slow pattern beats and cymbal crashing sounds interspersed between the foggy synth waves creating a background that adds to the sonic elements. On the following track “Stalagmite Necklace”, Fenriz and Nocturno Culto set boundaries as they showcase their riffing structure conveying a dank gloomy feeling funneling every stomping riff when necessary to up the tempo.

With its quirky cover album showing a skater wearing a Panzerfaust jacket probably suggests that Darkthrone is reminiscing its glorious past, although there isn’t much to expect from that time on the remaining tracks. “Astral Fortress” is overly rooted in the blackened doom style that began to be defined more clearly on the 2019 album “Old Star“. What follows next is the ten minutes epic track “The Sea Beneath the Seas of the Sea”, which sees the duo covering a multitude of styles, with its infectious powerful riff, this particular track displays an array of classic riff-inspired and doom-laden riffs. Due to its unique proportions and the hallucinogenic vocal effects, the guitar riffs blend some magical synth segments that add a wondrous theme to the music.

Gravelly riffs and dynamic drums grooving into a somewhat LSD trip with the shimmering synth while there is a definite stomping tone to the guitar riffs. Raw crusty guitar strides deliver some infectious moments throughout the track, but it seems that Darkthrone opted to offer a diverse range of riffs. There are some intriguing elements to the instrumentals and especially the drums. While “Kevorkian Times” is driven by a monstrous crushing riff, the tempo remains dynamically heavy and consistently on a higher tide. The riffing structure is very similar to what the band has presented on the previous album, the opening riff is extremely aggressive, steeped in the aesthetic of black metal. Hypnotic tremolos then involve a killer grooving section and apart from its raw classic appeal, the track stands as one of the heavier songs of the album.

The short noisy ambient track “Kolbotn, West of the Vast Forests” is perhaps the least likable song on the album for me and feels like filler material. The closing four minute track “Eon 2” is a metallic riff propeller with the guitars setting against the solid drumming beats, showing Darkthrone’s unique method to approach metal with great precision and riff craft wizardry. There are plenty of classic heavy metal riffs that create fiery bursts that collide with the sledgehammer rhythm guitars and they’re professionally layered through the wicked vocal lines.

REVIEW SCORE

  • Music / Songwriting 8/10
  • Vocals / Lyrics 8/10
  • Mix / Production 9/10
  • Artwork & Packaging 6/10
  • Originality 8/10
7.8

Darkthrone on its 20th album tackles the old era of traditional metal in a very conventional method. Although some of the tracks may lack the raw organic sound, nevertheless “Astral Fortress” is an epic blackened and doom-laden heavy metal record that is gritty and bold to its core!

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