The Norwegian black metal legends Darkthrone mark their return with a sublime new slab of relentless riffing in the true spirit of the underground.
Over the course of 30 years, Norway’s Darkthrone has become a staple of the global black metal genre, forging a legacy as one of the most renowned and influential bands in its illustrious & often infamous history.
In their formative years, Darkthrone initially started making their mark with
a strong concoction of thrash & then death/doom metal experimentation,
before the debut album Soulside Journey was unleashed in 1991. Never ones to
follow convention or stand still even then, the band soon embraced a much
darker, more primitive form of expression with
the now iconic second album A Blaze in the Northern Sky, & the rest became
history.
Now the longstanding duo of Fenriz and Nocturno Culto return with their first
studio album since 2016’s hugely popular Arctic Thunder opus, in the shape of
Old Star. With a mastery and endless dedication to the art of the riff, the
Norwegian legends cut through 6 new epic tracks, taking in the best of the old
school of heavy & extreme metal plus a large dose of doom-laden riffing,
& channelling it through the grime of the underground. Engineering and
production duties were all carried out by vocalist/guitarist Nocturno Culto,
complemented with a perfectly organic mix courtesy of Sanford Parker (Voivod) at
Hypercube Studios,
& mastered once more by Jack Control at Enormous Door.
The stellar cover artistry comes courtesy of Chadwick St John, titled “The Shepherd of the Deep”. The LP is presented on 180g heavyweight vinyl with a printed inner sleeve featuring handwritten lyrics and the CD edition is presented in jewel case packaging housed in a slip-case with an 8-page booklet.