DARKTHRONE "Old Star"

DARKTHRONE

“Old Star”

For a while there, DARKTHRONE was churning out albums almost more than once a year. It’s been a while since we’ve heard from them and I think that might be for the best. Is “Old Star” more of the punky, primitive groove they’ve been doing the last 10 years? Or is it a return to the primal 90’s black metal that they helped to pioneer? Or maybe even a return to the pure death metal of their very first album?

“Old Star” sticks to the sludgy rifferama of recent times, but if you listen close, you can hear some echoes of their earlier material here. This is just six songs but they are all fairly lengthy and have interesting changes. The production sound remains the thick grime of “Circle The Wagons” and “F.O.A.D.” They charge out of the gate with “I Muffle Your Inner Choir”, which proves they’ve also stuck to their oddball lyrical approach. This one is fast, elemental and raging...easy to get into. Half way through, they slow things down with a doomy touch that is perversely catchy “Perversely catchy” is a term that can be applied to DARKTHRONE in general.

Slow, medium or fast, the primal urgency of the riff is what drives this band forward. The title track has a kind of evil gloominess to it, “Alp Man” is punky groove, “Duke of Gloat” is fast and thrashing with a definite touch of DARKTHRONE’s black metal days to it. That black metal touch is also felt on final cut “The Key Is Inside The Wall”, which is epic and well layed out...the song is really almost a tour through the band’s entire career.

If you’ve liked the recent DARKTHRONE style, this can be recommended with no reservations. If you prefer more of the “Transilvanian Darkness”, you may find touches of it here, but you have to dig.

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DARKTHRONE