Review of the new Darkthrone album, "Pre-Historic Metal".
Band Name: Darkthrone
Album Title: Pre-Historic Metal
Tracklist:
They Found One Of My Graves
Pre-Historic Metal
Siberian Thaw
Deeply Rooted
The Dry Wells Of Hell
So I Marched To The Sunken Empire
Eat Eat Eat Your Pride
Eon 4
Running Time: 41:07
Release Date: May 8, 2026
Rating:
Label: Peaceville Records
Version Reviewed: Jewel Case CD
Band Members:
Fenriz - Drums, Vocals, Guitars, Bass
Nocturno Culto - Vocals, Guitars, Bass
Additional Album Information:
Recorded By Mads Luis And Ole Ovstedal At Chaska Khan Studios
Mastering By Jack At Enormous Door Mastering And Moor Applebaum Mastering
Produced By Darkthrone And Ole Ovstedal
All Music By Darkthrone
Layout By Matthew Vickerstaff
Ah, the mighty fucking Darkthrone! I have been a fan since the early days when they were straight up raw death/black metal. Since then, they have changed sounds with almost every album, though always retaining at least some semblance of their evil, raw death/black metal beginning. They’ve dabbled in death metal, thrash metal, punk and everything. Fenriz has a huge love for all things 80’s metal, and it has always shown. He doesn’t give a shit if some think those other genres are lame, if he likes it he will play it. ”Pre-Historic Metal” is the band’s twenty second full length album, and they are still as great as they always have been. Join me as I delve a bit into this monumental album from one of the most respected bands in the scene.
The music for “Pre-Historic Metal” has way more to do with bands like Slayer, Celtic Frost and Mercyful Fate than anything else. I definitely hear some riffing here that reminds me of those three bands. Fast, but never black metal fast, catchy riffs and even some traditional metal moments are to be found. The lyrics are very abstract and deal with “Deep time, primal struggle and a stone species' perspective on human existence”. The vocals are almost all black metal in style aside from a Tom Warrior sneer used at times. A few times on the album there is a cleaner vocal style that soars in a very early Rob Halford or King Diamond style. I love all of these vocals and they are definitely unique. The production on the album is good, using that mid-level production Darkthrone always uses. You know, kind of raw, but not demo tape sounding at all. It’s perfect for the music on here.
The cover art is a black and white photo of Fenriz howling at the moon with a pitchfork in hand. He’s holding an invisible grapefruit up to his ear. Lol. Man, I haven’t thought of invisible grapefruit in years. Anyway, it’s very early 90’s black metal in appearance. Inside of the twelve-page booklet are all of the lyrics as well as the band and album information. There are numerous awesome photos all involving trees or rocks covered in moss.
There is a reason that Darkthrone is still around all these years later. They continually reinvent themselves and release albums that traverse new territory and always (In my opinion anyway) succeed in releasing one great album after another. This one is highly recommended!
As always, I like to ask my readers to support the bands, labels and artists by purchasing the physical copies of the album you love or by visiting their Bandcamp and/or Facebook pages and supporting them there.
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