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Darkness Ablaze: Shadowreign

17/02/11 || Khlysty

Being pissed off all the time can be a draining experience. Take my word for it: in early December I had an accident, which not only prevented me from writing for GD, or doing my day-job, but making me half-incapable of doing even the most basic daily functions. Naturally, I was pissed: with myself for having this accident, with my luck, with everyone around me, with the fucking universe itself. And, as I’ve already pointed out, this can be draining. So, I decided – for the time being, at least – to have a more laid-back attitude towards things and shit in general and see how this works for me.

Now, you diligent readers of GD might wonder “what the fuck all this shit has to do with the review at hand? Why are you telling us all this half-assed zen-like bullshit, when you should be telling us whether we should listen to Darkness Ablaze’s newest opus?”. Well, the answer is pretty obvious: normally, I would like to dissect “Shadowreign” with a rusty, congealed-blood-covered scalpel and throw the gore-drenched remains to you to feed on them. But, my new attitude prevents me from doing exactly this and drives me to tell you in a most informative way what the whole deal is all about and let you decide whether this might be up for your tastes or not.

Hailing from the green pastures (well, actually I don’t know if there are any pastures, or if they’re green, but I like the sound of the phrase, fuck you very much…) of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Darkness Ablaze have, at one time or another, been characterized as “melodic death metal”, “melodic black metal” or a few more such silly things. Of course, what I call them is basic thrash, with some elements of death metal and power metal thrown in the mix for good measure. The main characteristic of their sound is the heavy use of synths, which – I think – are supposed to add a more “epic” feel to the music, which itself is a pretty melodious take on thrash, without the brutality and bottom-end mayhem that comes part-and-parcel with melodeath.

Actually, Darkness Ablaze seem to go for a more intense take on power metal than anything else, and on that front they achieve their goals admirably. The melodic riffing is tight and fine and the songs never seem to slouch, possessing energy and verve. Of course, the much-too-obvious orchestral synths sometimes bother me, as they border too much on power metal, a genre that I generally dislike. Another point of contention is the vocals by Theodoros “Theo” Georgitsaros (who is obviously of Greek descent, like me, so it pains me a bit to be critical towards him…): his howl/growl/scream is too one-dimensional and seems quite unfitting for the music at hand. I also have to point out that the drums sound too triggered for their own good, while the overall production job, while clear, lacks heft and crunch.

Bottom line? Well, bottom line is that Darkness Ablaze offer us a competent slab of tweaked power/thrash metal that sounds pleasant to the ear and has potential for at least a few spins, to get the blood a-flowin’. Sadly, they don’t seem to add anything really substantial to the canon of above-referred genres, so I cannot give them anything more than a…

Information
Released: 2010
Label: Black Bards Entertainment
Website: www.darkness-ablaze.de
Band
Theodoros “Theo” Georgitsaros: vocals
Christof Lorenz: guitar
Alexander “Ali” Huber: guitar
Christian “Chris” Jaworski: bass
Jens Podzierski: keyboards
Sascha Beul: drums

Tracklist
01. Enclosure no. 7
02. Zero
03. The chains of life
04. Trail of lies
05. Reduced to a beast
06. Enlightened by shadows
07. Interlude (instrumental)
08. The might of repression
09. Walls
10. Two souls marked by sorrow

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