To talk about Darkthrone is to do it about one of the most important bands of the Norwegian extreme and Black Metal circuit that still stands. Despite the years they have been in the gap (they formed in 1986) they seem to feed themselves to still sound fresh, pure, original and the most important: stay trve to its own essence.
Almost since the beginning of time, Darkthrone have been two: Fenriz on drums
and Nocturno Culto 
on guitars, bass (versatile man where they exist, because in my oponion, there are rather few) and voices.
With this almost unalterable line up (they no longer three and possible session or live musicians, do not count) they have released a whopping 18 albums starting with that distant Soulside Journey (1991), followed by their cult triptych formed by A Blaze In The Northern Sky (1992), Under a Funeral Moon (1993) and Transilvanian Hunger (1994) which should be considered the Black Bible of the Black Metal; until reaching this pristine Eternal Hails…… I would like to say that I met Darkthrone so late, in fact I only have the 1992 and 1993 albums (acquired after their edit many years ago) and the last one I bought was The Cult Is Alive (2007) a record where punk roots were very evident.
Then I took off from them (like so many others because I focused my chronicles in my local scene); until now. As I said before, Darkthrone keeps intact the essence of the greats, those who although the years go by or experiment as they please, always sound like them: Kreator, Destruction, Napalm Death, Iron Maiden… (the list is very short) This is the goal that every band worth its salt should aspire to, but only a few achieve it.
Original photo by Ester Segarra
Eternal Hails…… is simply great, impressive, cultured, impeccable and above all: with an old but modern sound. It is only made up of 5 songs, none shorter than 5 minutes and its total duration is more than 40 minutes. But it’s so well done, that it’s short. Something that I really liked about this Eternal Hails…… is that the music is closely linked to the song titles so we could say that they have a closed lyrical concept.
The first song is titled ‘His Master Voice’, and it already makes the intention of the album clear. The sound is quite Thrasher-Black, like a nod to Aura Noir (a total cult band within that genre and one of my favs bands ever). Musically the drums sound as if it were a hollow metal box, something very common in Fenriz. The guitar lines are pure garage, very pounding but at the same time clear and the voices are raw and without artifice. The blackers lines are very primitive in this song, almost the protoblack that Venom was trying to do in the beginning, but well done. The drop in tempo towards minute five and the ending, as if introducing another different song, is priceless. More raw & crusty, impossible.
We continue with ‘Hate Cloak’. The drums here are persistent with a bare and (almost) unarranged blast, pure guitar notes and a raspy voice: Darkthrone’s sound at full power. ‘Hate Cloak’ is a song with many changes of rhythm, which gives it a hypnotic, slow, muddy tempo that never ends. It effectively makes you feel like you’re in a sewer. The end is round and they recover the notes of the beginning and close it with the distorted voices. Speechless.
With ‘Wake of the Awekened’, we arrived to middle of the album. Its rabid sound is full of reminiscences of the Old Black/Thrash Metal. Fenriz is by far one of my favorite drummers for being the only one capable of getting a pure alley sound out of the heads and blast. The voice here is hard and outside the usual registers, very harsh. This is another track full of changes of rhythm with some suffocating guitars and a huge sonic seesaw. Very much in keeping with the title.
The cut 4th ‘Voyage to a North Pole Adrift’, takes us on a trip (in case we did not have enough with Borknagar last week). The song begins with a high-pitched guitar solo to show the way to drums. NC’s voice appears with its usual register although it moves more slowly with oscillating cadences. The Black/Thrash sound is still evident but that more badass rise of rhythm, returns them to those punkish touches of years ago. The drums here are very punchy with their archetypal sound. ‘Voyage to a North Pole Adrift’ has many nuances, something that is clear with that last clean and purist guitar solo, almost heavy, to finish off with a tremendous and abrupt ending. A great song.
Close this brilliant album ‘Lost Arcane City of Uppakra’ that starts with a typical Darkthrone’s beginning. The voice here is treated much more metallic, accompanied by a pounding rhythm of guitars and drums which combined with the ups and downs that are the handicap of the entire album. And with these drops, they introduce acoustic notes and voices in a ‘miserere’ plan, accompanied by mysterious rhythms on the keyboard in an arcane view, totally different as if we were listening to another song. The lines of the battery reaffirm the entrance to an ancient place as the title mentions. Dark and seamless.
Taking into account the years that I had not heard anything from Darkthrone and that I have practically gone from the roots of the beginning, through punk and a return to the origins but with his touch, I consider this Eternal Hails… an essential album. Many people have said that it’s the best album they have done in years, others said that not so much, some others said that do what they do, is well. Honestly I would like to say that it’s another gem in the darkthronian universe because they are the only ones capable of playing all the styles and continuing to sound like them without distorting their sound in the least.
Now is time for you, dear reader, to stop, listen and take out your own conclusions. Ea.
Eternal Hails…. has been released by Peaceville Records
To get your copy of Eternal Hails…. contact here
Bandcamp
https://peaceville.bandcamp.com/album/eternal-hails
CD / Vynil
https://burningshed.com/tag/eternal%20hails&filter_category_id=264
Follow Darkthrone
https://www.facebook.com/Darkthrone-101075189934422/
https://www.instagram.com/darkthroneofficial/
Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iboBawOFhi0
Photos taken from Darkthrone‘s IG managed by @roger_hoglund