Maximum Metal Rating Legend

Darkane Demonic Art Company: Massacre Release: 2008 Genre: Thrash, death Reviewer: Raising Iron

Established fans of Darkane will enjoy this

2009 and Darkane continue their fusion of thrash and melodic death metal with their latest release called Demonic Art. Their distinct hybrid of styles remains intact despite a change behind the microphone; now that long-time frontman Andreas Sydow has left, Darkane has employed a new singer who's no stranger to this style--Jens Broman from the similar Swedish outfit, Construcdead. He's a perfect fit as he's more than capable of singing the back catalog dead-on, as well as lending his gruff vox to this new release.

Darkane dwell in the same dimension as bands like Soilwork and The Haunted; injecting healthy doses of thrash into their melodic death metal foundation. Here though, the band has more than asserted thrash as the premise with slight layers of melodic death metal infused, especially come chorus time. This is where this album is a bit weak, as even though the choruses are powerful, catchy, and quite singable, the songs are formulaic. Almost every song boils down to speedy, thrashy verses juxtaposed with heavy, mid-paced choruses containing a bit of bombast and that old school melodic Swedish death metal sound (they are from Sweden after all). It's a technique that's worked for them on their previous 4 albums, so they're staying with it. Feature tracks would have to be Impetuous Constant Chaos and Absolution, with their large choruses driving the melodies into your cerebrum.

Established fans of Darkane will enjoy this release, as even though there is a new singer on board they've hardly missed a beat. Anyone looking for thrash metal built around technical, blazing riffs and new to this crew will find Demonic Art as good a place as any to start unearthing their catalog.