DARKTHRONE have announced their new album "Pre-Historic Metal," due May 8 via Peaceville Records. The release coincides with a remarkable milestone — the 40th anniversary of the band's formation, originally under the name BLACK DEATH, by the duo of Fenriz and Nocturno Culto.
The album contains eight songs described as "ferocious primal epics and gargantuan riffs," promising an odyssey through thrash, black, heavy, and doom metal. It was recorded at Chaka Khan Studios in Oslo with production handled by Ole Øvstedal, Silje Høgevold, and Mads Luis. The title track is streaming now, offering a first taste of what may be one of the year's most anticipated extreme metal releases.
Fenriz, never one for pretension despite his legendary status, offered characteristically blunt insight into the album's concept. "Prehistoric is a loose term — we use old style to create something new," he explained. It is a philosophy that has guided DARKTHRONE for decades: drawing from the deepest wells of metal's past while forging something unmistakably their own.
Since their pivotal early 1990s black metal trilogy — "A Blaze in the Northern Sky," "Under a Funeral Moon," and "Transilvanian Hunger" — DARKTHRONE have stubbornly refused to be boxed in. Their later work has incorporated crust punk, speed metal, traditional heavy metal, and doom influences, always filtered through their uniquely raw and uncompromising aesthetic.
"Pre-Historic Metal" appears to continue that tradition of eclecticism while doubling down on sheer heaviness. For a band entering their fifth decade, DARKTHRONE show no signs of slowing down. The title track alone suggests that Fenriz and Nocturno Culto still have plenty of venom left to unleash.