Year: 2022
Label: Peaceville Records
Rating: 6,7/10
Unfortunately, my hopes for the rebirth of DARKTHRONE have not come true, and it is already unlikely that this will ever happen. The only positive change from those that occurred after the wonderful "Arctic Thunder" is that the band realized the obvious fact: its traditional necrotic sound is a treasure that should not be lost. "Eternal Hails......” and now “Astral Fortress” have that wonderful ancient sound that can make even the ugliest shit attractive. To be honest, without it, listening to the latest albums of the Norwegians would've been much harder. At least we have the opportunity to delve into the music and look for some hidden dimensions there (alas, I didn't find anything there, maybe you'll be more lucky).
Apart from the sound, the album has nothing else to boast about. Each song has two or three interesting moments that remain in the memory, but this is not enough. There's nothing really valuable here; I don't expect any fresh ideas from a band with more than 35 years of experience, but the album also doesn't evoke almost any feelings, it doesn't create images in my head. It's interesting that the album has an atmosphere, but it's kind of misty, and I don't understand what's hiding in that mist. Probably, DARKTHRONE meant their native wooded Nordic places, but there could just as well be a gray concrete factory, or even bland emptiness. If we compare this with the atmosphere of ”Ravishing Grimness", the new album is not even worthy of its soles. The only thing that is undoubtedly felt in music is carelessness. Like, we prepared another set of sketches on the theme of old metal (mostly doomy metal), so give us your money now, because it's a CULT that IS ALIVE.
It didn't work out with the latter either. It is known that DARKTHRONE ruined most of their legacy long time ago, disgraced almost everything that had to do with their past achievements, and ”Astral Fortress" is just the next step on the way to the status of a dad rock band. Who could have imagined ten years ago that on the cover of the next of these Norwegians we will see a photo of Fenriz' girlfriend on skates? At one time, there was a joke on the Web about Glen Danzig's new album “Songs about my Cat", but that was a joke. In the case of DARKTHRONE, I wouldn't be surprised if in 4 years we see something similar in reality. To each his own, but I'm not interested at all in knowing what other old garbage Fenriz has listened to recently and I'm tired of his smartass lyrics about how he went to take a shit on the hills near Kolbotn. Such self-obsession within the framework of the band's creativity is not healthy.
As a result, the album leaves an indifferent impression, which, of course, is a shame for an undoubtedly legendary Norwegian band. Anyway, a three-year cycle of work on albums gave much better results. Let's see what happens next.
English (UK) 
Крыўская 