Darkane - Demonic Art
Since years, Darkane is a thrash mainstay in the Scandinavian metalscene. They deliver quality work since their formation in 1998. I have heard various songs of Darkane throughout the years, but never managed to get myself a copy of one of their CDs (yes I’m still one of the few who actually buy CDs instead of downloading mp3s). Don’t know what the reason is, because the songs were always of an above average level.
For those who don’t know Darkane, they play thrash metal with Swedish death metal influences. You can compare their sound to a mixture of The Haunted and Carnal Forge, but I’d like to think that Darkane is a bit more technical than both.
In 2007 their vocalist Andreas Sydow left and was then replaced by Jens Broman (The Defaced, Construcdead), this makes Demonic Art the first album with Jens. And I must say, they haven’t missed a beat. I am not that a fan of Construcdead, so I feared the worst, but Jens has really outdone himself. Great performance!
Not only Jens delivers a great performance, the whole band seems determined to deliver a nice album. Compared to the songs of their previous albums, there’s a bit more variety and melody on this album. Not that they went soft on us, because they found a way to incorporate melody without harming the overall heaviness of their sound. The combination of up-tempo and mid-tempo parts in songs are great and give the faster parts an extra edge.
They didn’t disappoint me with this album, in fact I even tracked down some older albums, because of the quality of this album. I especially have to mention ‘Absolution’ and ‘Execution’ as two of my favourite songs. For people who are disappointed with bands like The Haunted, this is a great alternative.
So, why not a higher score? Well, it was extremely hard to review this album, because of the tons of voice-overs in the songs, which make it very hard to hear certain passages. I think that when I listen to the original album, that the score will come out higher.
Tracklisting
1. Variations Of An Eyerush
2. Leaving Existence
3. Demonic Art
4. Absolution
5. Execution
6. Impetious Constant Chaos
7. Demigod
8. Soul Survivor
9. The Killing Of I
10. Wrong Grave
11. Still In Progress
12. Wrath Connection (Bonus Track)
2. Leaving Existence
3. Demonic Art
4. Absolution
5. Execution
6. Impetious Constant Chaos
7. Demigod
8. Soul Survivor
9. The Killing Of I
10. Wrong Grave
11. Still In Progress
12. Wrath Connection (Bonus Track)
Line up
Jens Broman – Vocals
Christofer Malmström – Guitars
Klas Ideberg – Guitars
Jörgen Löfberg – Bass
Peter Wildoer - Drums
Christofer Malmström – Guitars
Klas Ideberg – Guitars
Jörgen Löfberg – Bass
Peter Wildoer - Drums