Norwegian black metal pioneers Darkthrone maintain their distinctively raw intensity on their 20th studio album, It Beckons Us All. Comprised of just seven songs, the album sticks largely to slow-burning, long-churning chugs of midtempo or slower material. The bands signature lower-fidelity drum sound is in the forefront on opening track "Howling Primitive Colonies," and tracks like "Black Dawn Affiliation" drape fuzzy guitar tones with long sheets of dark ambient synth tones. The albums final, lengthy track, "The Lone Pines of the Lost Planet," stretches on for over ten minutes, tapping into a demo-like sound quality and rough-hewn immediacy reminiscent of the bands earliest groundbreaking black metal statements. ~ Fred Thomas
Rovi