Norwegian black metal legends DARKTHRONE may be approaching the final chapter of their decades-long career. In a new interview with Invisible Oranges, frontman Nocturno Culto reflected on the band’s future, revealing that he believes the group likely only has a handful of albums left in them.
Speaking about the creative discussions that followed the release of the band’s latest studio album, Pre-Historic Metal, Nocturno Culto explained that DARKTHRONE is once again considering major stylistic changes — something the band has only done a few times throughout its history.
“A few years ago, you said, ‘Arctic Thunder is an album born out of Fenriz and I talking about the slight changes we should make because we felt that The Underground Resistance was our peak performance.’ That’s interesting because I felt that Pre-Historic Metal is somewhat of a continuation of The Underground Resistance in some ways,” the interviewer noted.
Nocturno Culto responded: “It’s right, because the journey we had from The Cult is Alive up until The Underground Resistance involved the way we recorded and where we were recording. We felt that, when we discussed after The Underground Resistance, the main focus was not really the riffs, but the arrangement of the songs because we could float out in a crazy little bubble. But, we thought that we might get it together and make it a bit more understandable. That was our thought. But again, we are again discussing things that we can and should do.”
He continued by revealing that DARKTHRONE recently had another major discussion about the future direction of the band following the release of Pre-Historic Metal.
“I mean, three times during DARKTHRONE’s life, we have discussed changes. The obvious one was, of course, after Soulside Journey and Goatlord, and next was after The Underground Resistance. And we, now, for the third time, we had this chat again after Pre-Historic Metal. So we have some, we have some juicy plans for the next album that we will record in a couple of years time.”
When asked what those conversations involved, Nocturno Culto hinted at a more stripped-down and primitive approach for DARKTHRONE’s next release.
“I was basically thinking about doing things very differently. Simplify it a bit more,” he revealed. “Only having one guitar. We’ll see how it goes, because when you only record one guitar it changes a lot of things, like the way you write music. So, it will be more primitive. We have a plan. I think we are going to work towards it and see how it ends up.”
He then addressed the uncertainty surrounding how much longer DARKTHRONE will continue: “Because one thing is for sure and that is that we don’t know how many albums we have left. Is it one, is it three? Maybe at maximum? I don’t know. It’s difficult to say. But what is definitely for sure is that we are not going to release 20 more albums. So we’re talking about around three more albums maybe.”
Despite acknowledging that the end of the band will eventually come, Nocturno Culto stressed that both he and Fenriz remain fully committed to DARKTHRONE: “We are using all our time and effort to create music for DARKTHRONE. No doubt that DARKTHRONE is some kind of a live project for both of us and it keeps us sane somehow. So for us, it’s very important. I mean, we are not very serious guys as individuals, but when it comes to the music, we are very serious.”
Asked whether thoughts about ending the band are tied to wanting more personal time after decades of recording, he reflected on the inevitability of reaching the end of the road.
“That’s one way to put it. At one point you have to meet the end of the road, but we will make sure that we can 100 percent be behind our albums,” he responded. “Given all the time we’ve been around and all the albums released, it’s been quite a journey, but at some point it has to end. We are not resigning just yet, but time goes by. We have some albums left in us, so we are going to continue, but we’re going to make some changes and explore the last leg of DARKTHRONE.”
Nocturno Culto also admitted that imagining life without DARKTHRONE feels almost impossible after spending nearly four decades in the band: “It’s very difficult to think about because it will be very, very strange and I don’t know how I am going to react to it. I’ve been in this band since I was 16 and now I’m 54, so it’s been a long time. My brain works very strangely because I can remember small details from long ago and so much is imprinted in my mind. It’s a nice thing to walk down the memory lane sometimes. But the band has always been about looking forward.”
Darkthrone released their latest album, Pre-Historic Metal, on May 8. The album was recorded at Chaka Khan Studios in Oslo, with production work conducted by Ole Øvstedal, Silje Høgevold, and Mads Luis. Mastering was handled by Jack Control at Enormous Door and Maor Appelbaum Mastering.
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.