Up to the day I listened to this masterpiece for the first time their Punk Rock riff driven „Hate Them All“ was my favourite Darkthrone album. While they never having had a musical standstill this 2024 album is IMHO a very unique statement of the fact that Darkthrone are the undisputed masters of true Norwegian Black Metal _FULL_STOP_

The first track „Howling Primitive Colonies“ may start in a kind of heavy downtempo but this is just the starter and it sounds as solid as a tank in full speed making it’s way through your synapses … the slowest sections of this track feature heavy drums and vocals as sharp as a Japanese Chef’s knife – good!

„Eon 3“ was the first track that really touched me. It starts with guitar riffs and drums fading in … the overall tempo is higher with riffs that pound like a 5kg repair tool if I may say so!
The song ends downtempo with toned down guitars and slow drum play … instead of a fade out both stereo channels independendly from each other end with generated noise 🙂

When „Black Dawn Affiliation“ starts the best part of the album is yet to come. This song shows a glimpse of the wide range of musical ideas Fenriz and Nocturno Culto are able to incorporate into their works. What fascinates me most is once again their play with breaks … I am no journalist nor can I play any instrument but I do have a fine sense for dynamics in any kind of music – this one is very dynamical.

„And In That Moment I Knew The Answer“ is at the beginning a play of channel on/off with energy loaded guitar and drums … at 03:18 minutes the shortest but nonetheless a very intense piece of music

„The Bird People Of Nordland“ may start slow and heavy again but it has a drive that results in a faster still heavy second part … maybe not the best track in my opinion but still worth it.

„The Heavy Hand“ a song that mentions insomnia … is heavy too! Sorry, I can’t say much more about this one but it’s surely worth to listen too.

„The Lone Pines Of the Lost Planet“ is the right track to end this album. It starts with one minute of normal Rock Music and then transcends into a typical Darkthrone tour de force featuring loads of unexpected breaks and very interesting sounds. In the end aggressive riffs and spherical vocals round it all up … 10 minutes of joy for a fanboy like me!

Get the digital version of the album at bandcamp …