On disc: Darkane

 
 Expanding Senses
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 


 
 Layers Of Lies
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 


 
 The Sinister Supremacy
 
- Claudia Ehrhardt -
 
 

The Sinister Supremacy

(Massacre Records - 2013)



 
 

 

It's been awhile since we heard from Darkane, but now they return with their original singer Lawrence Mackrory and their 6th studio album The Sinister Supremacy. Their last album Demonic Art was released in 2008 and featured singer Jens Broman.



A symphonic intro is Sound Of Pre-Existence which leads over to the title track The Sinister Supremacy. They storm off and head into a thrashy melodic death tune with tempi changes, clean vocals and melodic passages. Some songs offer some complex passages like Mechanically Divine. Ostracized is a raw tune with growls and shouts, but it offers melodic guitar parts. An symphonic opening leads you into The Decline, a riff based modern thrasher. After a few trashers a keyboard kicks off Hate Repentance State which is a slow symphonic tune, but about 90 seconds into the tune the guitars join in and it becomes a powerful instrumental. Songs like By Darkness Designed don't offer much variety, so you get some straight-forward thrashers. Personally I prefer the songs which show different facets of the Darkane sound.



The digipack offers two bonus tracks. I wonder why the mid-paced Malicious Strain didn't make it onto the regular version, it would have added a bit variety to the album. I, Author Of Despair is also a track which would have spiced up the album. So, if you like some variety and the melodic death metal sound of Darkane, then try to get hold of the digipack!



I'm not sure, if all Darkane fans will be satisfied, coz after so many years expectations might be high... too high. Give the Sweds a chance and check out The Sinister Supremacy!




 
 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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Layers Of Lies

(Nuclear Blast - 2005)



 
 

 

After the release of Expanding Senses in 2002 they toured a lot and already working on new material their drummer Peter Wildoer had to take a time off - health problems. Now they are back with Layers Of Lies. Opening with some classical intro - I'm not that much into the classical compositions, so I can't say what influenced them here or what they addaptec - they named Amnesia Of The Wildoerian Apocalypse which ends with some metal sounds. With Secondary Effects they go full speed ahead. Modern thrash metal is what they play, based on the Bay Area-influenced guitars of Klas Ideberg and Christofer Malmström. This track indicates the musical direciton of Layers Of Lies - relentless frontman Andreas Sydow shouts and screams. Super fast drumming and hammering bass is forcing them ahead. A break... Silence, then back to the relentless metal force. They don't slow down. Organic Canvas is another neckbreaker. The guitar duo adds a minimum of melody while Sydow is screaming hatefully, but in the middle part of the song they slow down a little and add some anthem-like vocals, twisted guitar lines then back to the Bay Area. More up-tempo stuff, but they take back speed a bit here and there. There a similarities to The Haunted... If memory serves also to The Crown - guess I should listen to them again... The title track shows a little different shade of Darkane. Starting with more traditional heavy metal - not as fast as the previous tracks - singer Andreas Sydow adds powerful dark, clear vocals which gives the song a certain atmosphere. Almost catchy. But then back to the thrashy side of Darkane. More variety makes it more interesting in my opinion. And they still manage to be heavy and gives fans something to bang their head to. But the more die-hard thrash fans will welcome more songs like Godforsaken Universe. Very aggressive with hatefull vocals and a minimum of melodies from the guitars. While Klastrophobic Hibernation is just a short instrumental intermezzo. The following Vision Of Degradation is showing all shades of the Darkane sound. And is so perfect to check this album out, but to get the whole picture you should also listen to Decadent Messiah which - like many others - starts mid-tempo and then explodes.

Fans of modern thrash metal will love the relentlessness of their up-tempo stuff, but personally I think that the parts where they slow down a little are more interesting and that the powerful, dark clean vocals fit very well to Darkane.
 
 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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Expanding Senses

(Nuclear Blast - 2002)



 
 

 

This is the latest release of the Swedish. Their music is categorized as Nu Thrash or Melodic Death Metal. On Expanding Senses the quintet starts with Innocence Gone. An up-tempo track with aggressive guitars and some death metal-kinda vocals. No deep growls, but... After a break it first offers some thrash part and then a more classical heavy metal influenced guitar solo. This tune gives a good idea about nowadays Darkane sound. The vocals of Andreas Sydow give the songs the death metal touch. On Solitary Confinement his growls make this quite clear. Musically more thrash / speed metal. The Swedish kinda build a musical bridge between the genres. A really fast one is Fatal Impact. A lot of fast double-bass drumming and some twin guitar riffing, then a break leads into a mid-tempo part, but only for a moment. The band of guitarists Christofer Malmström and Klas Ideberg is crossing borders. During the mid-tempo part - the refrain - the vocals are more melodic and have a special touch. It seems that the Scandinavians combine different genres and try to create their own sound which they partly have already achieved. But still there is some way to go for them. Violence From Within is a fast thrasher which should be interested for fans of thrash and speed metal as well. While The Fear Of One's Self starts as a slow heavy rock, then a blast of guitars and fast drumming is blowing you away.

I can recommend this band, this album of fans of the melodic death metal who listen to bands like Children Of Bodom, Soilwork and In Flames. Only to give you a clue, coz they are different then the named ones. Also open-minded fans of thrash bands like Exodus, Anthrax, etc. should give it a try...
 
 










Claudia Ehrhardt


  
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