Darkest Hour
Hidden Hands Of A Sadist Nation (Victory)
by Martin Popoff
Known as the amiable, hard-working DIY band that has succeeded in merging the worlds of hardcore and metal, Darkest Hour push the draft card one step further and trundle overseas to record a faster, brighter, more Swedish album with Fredrik Nordstrom at Studio Fredman. The result is a relentless blast of drums, cymbals, high-horse, note-dense riffs, and vocals from John Henry that frankly, grate after awhile, sounding a bit like a hardcore snob making fun of the Gothenburg sound. But what he’s saying is pretty smart and edgy stuff, Darkest Hour writing a raft of words lethally critical of what they view as American imperialism, the new reality show for the stupid and bored. So one walks away impressed with the literary level achieved, along with the band’s bracing Swedish death purity, this essentially being like Soilwork before the new dimensions, Darkane, The Haunted… you know, the usual suspects.
