Darkthrone – Eternal Hails......

Great album. Somewhere between death and doom metal. Has a dark and slow feeling that reminds me of classic Black Sabbath. Sound quality of this pressing is not exceptional but satisfying. Finally a Peaceville release that comes in a protective innersleave, so the record is not covered in dirt at arrival. Pressing itself is flawless! Recommended.

Notes: This gold vinyl version: Limited to 500 ex. .

Doing a direct a/b comparison to the digital version on Spotify with a revealing $15k system reveals the vinyl having a thicker boomier sound with guitar sounds having more of a crunch and bite. The digital Spotify version has more clarity but sounds thinner and guitars don't have the same presence.

Old school metal that borrows a lot from Black Sabbath , Hellhammer/Celtic Frost and the NWOBHM.
Love the lo-fi production and the dry organic drum sound.
The faster parts are the best and they could included a few more.
All by all a very good Darkthrone album.

love this record, the tone pf the snare is perfect for me, great sound.

I really enjoy this more doomy sound of Darkthrone, although I believe many old-school fans might not like it as much, as it is far from what their first few albums were like. it will be interesting to see what direction their future releases will go.

Maybe a little short but this new album is too much better than the weak "Old Star"

Anyone else feel like the production value went down after Old Star?

Doom seems to suit Darkthrone. Having left their black metal mania era far behind, Darkthrone turn at last to doom after exploring pretty much every other style of metal you might care to think of, most recently punk in Arctic Thunder and Underground Resistance. The new doomy direction was signalled by Old Star, which started to sound more and more doomy. The style is more explicit on this latest album. Of all the albums named above, I think it is the best, primarily because it enables the listener to dive into deep waters. This is helped by the recording which has a quite dark and distant sound overall with the vocals well back. There are a number of good moments and fine riffs, especially on side 2 which becomes more doomy, spacey, even psychedelic. I especially appreciated the Moog in the last track. How important was the organ to Black Sabbath?

On the downside, it must be itted that this album is a plod if you are not in the mood. At times the band seem complacent, and certainly could have included more ideas and details in the tunes. This complaisance is indicated, apart from anything else, by Fenriz's absurd hails on the back cover to sports personalities, beer manufacturers etc - a bit too harry casual and back slapping for me. This is a pity as the cover painting by David Hardy (honorary fellow of the British Interplanetary Society) is great: an ice-rimmed cave in the shape of an ear (?) looks out over a frozen sea towards what seems to be Jupiter and Pluto. We could have done with more of those kind of interplanetary views and eerie feelings and ideas in the music.

So, for me, in a spaced out or contemplative mood, this album can really deliver. I do hope that Darkthrone continue to dive deeper into the cosmos of doom. It is a tautology to find doom promising, but that is exactly what I found listening to this album. More please Darkthrone.

Has anyone actually gotten or seen the "indie store" dark green variant of this record that (I believe) was supposed to release sometime in July? I ordered mine from a record store and haven't received any shipping notifications or messages regarding delays. I know a guy who owns a record store and he apparently hasn't received his copies either. I wonder what's up with that.