Darkest Hour : "Perpetual | Terminal'

 

The opening track summarizes what has made Darkest Hour one of the most enduring modern metal bands, as it takes their hard-core roots and bridges them with harmonized guitar lines that rival any of the more melodic death metal coming out of Northern Europe. It is unrelenting yet melodic and hooky enough at the chorus. The second song is a more pummeling face-first assault. There are some of the thrashing hooks that they opened the album with, but they attack with sharper teeth. The chorus once again is sung and contrasts the hard-core stomp that accents the song. Thanks to guitarist Nico Santora, they are capable of shredding on a level that sets them apart from the more collar punk beginnings. They however are clearly working off a formula as the song works similar paths, just at different velocities. 

By the time we arrive at "The Nihilist Undone," I am ready for more of a dynamic shift, but instead what we get is another demonstration of hyper-aggressive guitar heroics that races by with an At the Gates-like tempo. The melodic singing on "One with the Void' is very effective as it employs the wider range of sonic colors they were beginning to need to break them away from the songwriting template that was marking the first act of the album. "Amor Fati" is an instrumental interlude that just feels like the outro to the previous song. They are back at a more breakneck pace on "Love is Fear". This could very well be Lamb of God if you took all the Pantera influence out of Lamb of God.  This feeling can carry over into the song that follows this as well, though it has a more effective groove. 

They do return to sung vocals and put melody forefront on "Mausoleum".This also digs into darker emotions. It is not a power ballad but works off a similar dynamic."My Only Regret" is more hardcore in its drive.  The last song as a two and a two-and-a-half-minute instrumental intro before the blast into the thrash fury you are expecting to come from this.  I will give this a 9 and see how it sits with me, as this is not normally my thing, but I respect these guys and they are great at what they do, the more melodic moments are more interesting than the more At the Gates-like moments. 

pst40