A band entrenched in their sound yet one impossible to predict in terms of where their sound will go record to record? It sounds silly, but in Darkest Hours case, it makes perfect sense. Not content with plodding the same metallic hardcore floorboards with every release, they’ve ventured from cleaner, anthemic sounds a’la Killswitch Engage to gritty, heavy as hell chaotic hardcore that echoes Converge in the span of a few albums. Yet, at the same time, whenever you hear their work, there’s something about it that makes it instantly recognisable as the Washington D.C natives.
While sonically you’ve never been too sure what you’re going to get, there’s elements of the bands sound that remain constant. John Henry’s distinctive barks, unabashed At The Gates guitar worship and drumming that tattoos itself into the back of your skull. Seven years is the biggest gap the band have ever had between original releases (There was a Live in Lockdown album in 2022) so while expectations were high, people also didn’t know what to expect. Thankfully, the extra time has paid off as the result is a record that seems to take influence and inspiration from moments in time all across the bands career. There’s shades of the brutal grind of Godless Prophets & The Migrant Fauna combined with the massive choruses and hooky guitars found on Deliver Us across the whole of Perpetual | Terminal.
“There's shades of the brutal grind of Godless Prophets & The Migrant Fauna combined with the massive choruses and hooky guitars found on Deliver Us”
The opening one two of singles ‘Perpetual Terminal’ and ‘Societal Bile’ welcome listeners old and new into the bands world at a hundred miles an hour. Machine gun riffing (Complete with a phenomenal guitar tone)and seismic drums set their stall out in a big way. John Henry mixes his furious, spit-flecked barks with almost sludgy earworm melodies, something he continues to nail on every release but always in slightly different ways. He’s a vocalist who knows exactly what he’s good at but when he does experiment with new styles of melody and hooks, the results are often mixed, but thankfully they all hit the mark here, aside from a track later on the the album which we’ll get to soon.
When track four kicks in, it’s business as usual (And their business is good) until a goosebump inducing guitar solo makes you stop dead in your tracks and may even bring a tear to your eye. It’s a level of axe work beauty rarely seen in records of this nature, bringing an almost ethereal side to, in all other terms, is a rager of a track. There’s barely a moment in the record where you’re not at risk of whiplash. ‘New Uptopian Dream’ possesses a stomp so big that you’d think Godzilla was two stepping outside your window before an almost 80’s guitar solo breaks things up.
When the band do decide to slow things down though, the results are mixed. ‘One With The Void’ is a stirring, doom-tinged slow burner that proves to be one of the albums highlights, whereas the opening of ‘Mausoleum’ makes you want to skip the rest of the track as soon as it’s awkward, almost whiny acoustic intro begins. It’s a shame because the rest of the track is great but the the first 70 seconds are the albums only real moments of poor quality and is the sole time on the record where John Henry sounds less than excellent.
“New Uptopian Dream' possesses a stomp so big that you'd think Godzilla was two stepping outside your window”
One thing about Darkest Hour is that their song titles are nearly always fantastic and memorable, and the finale of “Goddess Of War, Give Me Something To Die For” is no exception. Doing an acoustic introduction right this time, it closes off the record with one of the most grandiose tracks the band have ever written. Somehow taking everything you’ve heard so far and combining it in just under seven minutes, when the song name is belted out like a blood soaked soldier crying to the heavens on a battlefield amongst his dead friends and foes alike, the chills will reach the base of your spine.
At almost thirty years into their career, the band have put out one of the best examples of classic, no frills metalcore given a modern twist and much like their contemporaries in Unearth, they’ve shown that they’re as relevant today as they ever have been. If you weren’t a massive fan before, this won’t be the record that changes your mind as it’s so entrenched in the bands style and tropes, but for those discovering the band for the first time as well as longtime fans, there’s so much here to enjoy.