BravePicks 2021 - DARKTHRONE's Eternal Hails... #26
December 5, 2021, 2 years ago
As the world continues to battle a virus, we present the ultimate escape! It is time to celebrate our BravePicks 2021! Heavy metal is the ultimate diversion, so let's let the music do the talking. It is time to unveil our annual BravePicks countdown, where the devout scribes at BraveWords cast their votes at the hits and misses of the year! So who will be our #1? You’ll find out as we count down the BravePick Of 2021 each day in December!
Everybody has an opinion and it’s time for ours! And stay tuned in January for the writers’ individual Top 20s (new studio albums ONLY), Top 5 Brave Embarrassments (a fan favorite!), What/Who Needs To Stop In 2022? and Metal Predictions For 2022. All will be showcased come the New Year!
First up, the best of the best for 2021 begins NOW!
BravePicks 2021
26) DARKTHRONE – Eternal Hail (Peaceville)
Five songs is all it takes to make a statement. Black metal legends Darkthrone prove they are still the masters of their field with Eternal Hails…. A gloomy, grim and cold gaze is held throughout the 42 minutes along with well-orchestrated doom. The sound is organic with raw guitars and hefty bass, but the songwriting shines as it irons out the issues from the last two albums. Eternal Hails…is a testament to the band’s unending influence, legacy and shows they are still a force to be reckoned with.
Lyrically, Eternal Hails... follows previous Darkthrone concepts, in that it has no concept. Each song stands alone, words and music done separately, until such a time as one needs to find the other.
Fenriz explains “As I write lyrics that have a life on their own these days (again), there is no concept of them to match the songs themselves,” says Fenriz. “The lyrics collect dust while we make the songs, and then Ted needs the lyrics for his vocals in the studio and he gets them then. So I have no idea what song is going to be called what until I come back to the studio after the vocals are done. Again, with us it is coincidental. The lyrics did not inspire any of the songs or songwriting. When we make the songs it is a matter of just trusting our lives in heavy metal and – BOOM! – create, create, create, and then put the pieces together.
"Having recorded all albums since 2004 using their own Necrohell II studio – a portable 8-track recorder housed in an old bomb shelter, itself a replacement for the original Necrohell 4-track used for Transilvanian Hunger and Panzerfaust, until it became ‘too necro’ and broke – for Eternal Hails the band went to Chaka Khan Studio in Oslo for the first time.
"Though the material was almost all finished ahead of the session, something the new studio and new way of working did allow for on Eternal Hails, was the opportunity to experiment with ideas on the hoof.
"In a world changing too fast for anything to stick, Darkthrone are both able to stay fresh, but also reassuringly reliable. And no matter where they record, what they do or what gear the use to do it – Fenriz actually ended up using a drum kit belonging to Carmine Appice when he was in Rod Stewart’s band this time around – this, it seems, will never and can never change.”
BravePicks 2021 Top 30
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26) DARKTHRONE - Eternal Hails (Peaceville)
27) SMITH/KOTZEN – Smith/Kotzen (BMG)
28) TODD LA TORRE - Rejoice In The Suffering (Rat Pak)
29) KK’S PRIEST – Sermons Of The Sinner (EX1)
30) ASPHYX - Necroceros (Century Media)
