Darkness Ablaze

"Great artwork, but let's see if the CD sounds as good" I thought to myself when I first held the disc in my hands. After all, what could already be heard on Myspace was convincing, so I wanted to see if the disc could reach the expectations. With a quiet piano and keyboard intro you can never do anything wrong. That this one is not like in other metal productions, one notices, because it has a clear relation to the rest of the song material.

The expectations rise...

The fat and powerful guitars of the gentlemen Lorenz and Huber cut themselves right at the beginning of "Lonely I March" in the memory of the listener and the former drummer and executive producer of this album Marcel Woitowicz shows directly that he is a connoisseur of his trade. Low-frequency Christian pumps along diligently and has to hide just as little as compatriot Theo with his deep growls, which alternate with Black Metal typical screams, with which it is skillfully proven that truly no amateur rots into the mic. Before the chorus, the tempo is already slowed down a bit and acoustic guitars and soft keyboard play set in, before this calm is stirred up by the storm again. Very solid song that steers the album in the right direction. No less aggressive it goes on with "Dance Of Fire" and you really can not absolve yourself from the fact that one is heated up strongly. A suddenly emerging "techno beat" proves that one is dealing with comrades who are eager to experiment. In general, this exceptional band seems to produce earworms like on the assembly line. Piano melodies of keyboarder Jens build up a shapely wall in "Black Rainbow", similar to the one on the tastefully designed cover, but this is mercilessly rolled down by the violence of the rest of the colleagues, which can be compensated very well by this exceptional song. Dreamlike thirds in the interplay of guitar and keyboards consolidate the feeling that this is a high-quality band. The speed of the song is brought down again in the middle. Generally it is to be noted that this song, quite large cinema is, since evenly these tension arcs constantly arise. It is beautifully pulled through the Gothenburg riffing scheme before a driving keyboard passage animates towards the end to fly away, but the brutality, with which the song has already introduced itself, continues again including fat guitar solo.

The expectations are reached...

Part 1 of "Ascending From Ashes" forms the intro to the successor and is typically started with acoustic guitar. Part 2 is the exact opposite of the predecessor. All stops are pulled out on the drums. Even though this track makes partial use of today's worn out trends like breakdowns, it still sounds fresh and like something of its own. So the often overused and often unjustified words "own style" fully apply to these colleagues here. An extremely self-ironic song is delivered to us with "The Demon Prevails". Happy guitar melodies and cheerful folk dominate this song and should animate some to sway along. If you don't get carried away by this, it's your own fault!
The seven and a half minute long "Once Called For Redemption" is once again introduced by keyboards and in 6/8 time it goes on constantly in the known style, until again changes of proper bludgeoning and epic solos come. Worthy the song or the record with the 12-string approaches the end.

EXPECTATIONS EXCEEDED!!!

The eponymous debut of DARKNESS ABLAZE is a high-quality piece of metal, which really does not have to hide from signed genre colleagues. The only downer is the final mix or the mastering. Even if the basic sound is very good, the keyboard and string sounds are too present in places and create a light mush together with the guitars. The listening pleasure is slightly limited due to the strong dynamic processing and not infrequently distortions occur. Unfortunately, it is currently the trend to compress the records very strongly, which does not always have a positive effect. But those who can do without these little things will definitely have their fun with this disc permanently.

If you still have problems deciding whether to see the band live despite the good CD, you should definitely check out the quite well produced live clips in the multimedia section of the CD. The live qualities of the band speak volumes. An absolutely right decision of Black Bards to bring the previously already in self-produced work now regularly in the stores!