Darkthrone
Arctic Thunder

THE REVIEW

The return home...

After further experimenting with their favorite sounds in "The Underground Resistance," dated 2013 (how time flies...), the duo formed by Nocturno Culto and Fenriz managed to bring back the old fans who had kept away from the heavily Crust Punk inspired albums.
Now that I am facing "Arctic Thunder," their latest effort released last October 14th through Peaceville, I can finally say with certainty: THEY ARE BACK!
The album title pays homage to a Norwegian Thrash Metal band of the same name, active in the second half of the '80s.

The album in question marks another possible, or momentary, shift in sound, although it's not new: Darkthrone, in fact, return to offer Black Metal in the style that distinguished them from the rest of the "(True) Norwegian Black Metal" crowd from the '90s, the slow and oppressive kind.
However, defining it as just a Black Metal album would be too limiting, because you can still detect slight remnants of their last decade's sound but especially Doom Metal (Fenriz's passion) and some Heavy Metal tinges.
As in the previous one, there is a perfect division of instrumentation, music, and lyrics between the two, demonstrating the super organized structure within the project; a difference noticeable when listening, however, is the almost total absence of clean vocals, in fact, Nocturno Culto will mainly handle the vocal parts.
In the end, they present a relatively short album of not even 40 minutes across 8 tracks. All usual.

Although the Crust-influenced albums were halfway between mediocre and good, there is no comparison when Darkthrone get their hands dirty and prepare their specialty.
It begins a sort of trip down memory lane when the single and opener "Tundra Leech" starts, a track that will make the true "die hard fans" smile, predominantly Black Metal "Panzerfaust style" which serves as an excellent introduction to the album, where you can already hear Doom nuances. With more pressing rhythms but in the same vein is the subsequent "Burial Bliss".
"Boreal Fiends" and "Deep Lake Trespass" showcase the more Doom side of the Nocturno Culto/Fenriz co-op. I was personally surprised by the quality offered by the latter in this different guise; in short, if this amalgam of Black and Doom Metal is to continue, I would be very happy. These are the tracks to keep an eye on.
A bit less interesting perhaps are the more Heavy-themed and classically structured tracks, like the concluding "The Wyoming Distance", which however in the end wraps up with a fun interlude featuring Fenriz immediately in goof-off mode after the song ends, while he hums random melodies in falsetto and a verse from "Blackbird" by the Beatles. Fenriz is the man!

As the artwork suggests to me, a very simple photograph in its intensity, the colleagues but, first of all, best friends have returned to their endless walks through the Norwegian forests... ahhh, old habits. Whiffs of nostalgia, indeed.

As a great admirer of the group, I state that "Arctic Thunder" and "The Underground Resistance" are the best that the duo has produced in the last 15 years. Both deserving of 4 and a half stars on the report card.

The flame still burns...