Darkthrone have long been my favorite ever black metal band. Furthermore, my favorite album from the band has always been the indomitable Panzerfaust. So imagine my pleasure upon hearing the new Darkthrone album Astral Fortress, to realize that the Darkthrone album it is the most similar to is in fact Panzerfaust! And yet, it's so much more than that, it's 40+ minutes of Darkthrone magic that draws from all sides of their discography and hints at so much more to come.
It's insane to think that now, twenty albums into their illustrious career, the almighty Darkthrone are still consistently churning out some of the best albums in their history as a band. Astral Fortress does not necessarily bring anything new to the table or reinvent what it means to be Darkthrone, but it does a very good job of paying tribute to an epic legacy. This is a record that invokes the darkness of old, but does it in a way that reflects upon years of growth .Furthermore, this is the bands second record ever at a real studio, once more going to Chaka Khan Studios to lay this down, and this helped to add to the magic of what has been executed here.
Astral Fortress is, in a word, a stunner. It's a record that sits firmly next to the classic albums and which consistently proves just how talented Darkthrone are as musicians and songwriters. It's hard not to be charmed by the inherent darkness that they evoke and the frostbitten twists in the myth that they seem so eager to present at every turn. Astral Fortress is Darkthrone done right, with a sense of evil and misery that few of the bands peers can evoke, constantly driving towards terrifying depths and dragging us all behind them.
Pre-order the album!
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