Well, we've got Darkthrone, Dark Angel, Dark Millenium, Dark Embrace, Darkwoods My Betrothed, Darkseed, etc... so 'Dark' isn't exactly what I would call an original bandname. (Of course, they might just be taking the piss by opting for such a simple monicker). Musically this band are probably best described as melodic death metal, but the few aggressive moments are far outnumbered by the somewhat poofy moments which use overlashings of synth and whatnot. I'd say the style is somewhat similar to Crematory.
It's not bad, but whilst I appreciate atmospheric metal, this album is often a bit too airy-fairy for my liking. Admittedly, I think "Nemesis Of Neglect" and "Dawn Of The Gods" are pretty good songs, but later tracks like "In Darkness" and the first few minutes of "Vision" owe more to (insert name of any lightweight chart music ballad here) than anything else.
A few songs include some female vocals, and there's some nice acoustic guitar. The main vocals are reasonably deep throaty death vocals, which are good - but I must say, I'm not fond of the lyrics. Take these examples, for instance: "the rage grows stronger when I see the pictures in the news/I cannot understand why no one stops these cruelties." Hardly suitable for death metal, is it? "When The Love Is Gone" is a horribly romantic song, with lines like "my sweet love, I love you, until the end will fall..." needless to say, such lyrics make me wish to expell copious amounts of vomit through my mouth and into the nearest lavatory. And I think "you're creating a land of milk and honey/where everything seems to be funny" is possibly the daftest rhyming couplet in the history of the universe.
Well, it does have some good bits - the band are decent enough musicians, and the songwriting's not too bad. Some of the melodies are quite pleasing to the ear, etc. - but taken as a whole, it's not really my cup of tea. I prefer Crematory when it comes to this sort of thing.
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