so while it sucks that I'm stuck at home with nothing to really do (I'm casting aside the fact that I could be fixing up the house or doing anything productive) at least the great mailman was gracious enough to put the new Darkest Hour album in my greedy hands...now normally I don't do "off-cycle" reviews for any album but this is, well, fucking
Darkest Hour...so after being blistered apart from it...I wrote up a little ditty that I'd love to share with you folks...to see it in all its glory go read up on
Undoing Ruin but here's what I had to say:
"The excitement builds. The buzz was mounting. Darkest Hour was to release a follow-up to their intense metal workout entitled “Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation”. Always a band to write conceptual lyrics that in the past have attacked organized religion and commercialism (“So Sedated, So Secure”) as well as the duplicity of government on the aforementioned “Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation”, Darkest Hour would set out to write an album less focused on the political and more on forward movement and personal healing. Still as gritty and pulse-pounding as their past efforts, this album finds a more intimate look inwards as each band member seemingly poured every ounce of sweat, blood, and tears into the making of the fundamentally stirring opus. Produced by Devin Townsend, he of Strapping Young Lad and producer of Soilwork and Lamb of God, in Vancouver, Canada, “Undoing Ruin” strikes at the signature Darkest Hour sound and tweaks it well past eleven. While the rest of the so-called metalcore scene rests on its laurels, Darkest Hour constantly tweaks each element of their sound resulting in more atmosphere and depth than ever heard before in their songs. Always a band whose touring regiment is notably rigid, Darkest Hour translates their live sound extraordinarily well on these eleven tracks. To metal, Darkest Hour is truly just as provocative and crucial as their hometown of Washington, DC. Songs like “Sound the Surrender”, “These Fevered Times”, and “Low” contain that melodic Swedish metal sound that At the Gates popularized ages ago while “Paradise” contains dramatic metal overtures that maneuver at pseudo-operatic vibrancy. “Ethos” is a disdainful grunt that complements the album by being a pathos obliterator scuttling in the remainder of the album. But nothing truly prepares you for the majestic ending with the epic over six minute “Tranquil”, that shows that sometimes Darkest Hour’s best moments are when they’re operating at their most melodic with honestly one of the most harmonic chord progressions that has been heard in metal cascades into a cacophony of noise and held notes that will make angels weep. Get your rubber stamps folks; this one’s labeled ‘classic’, ‘essential’, and ‘album of the year’."
if you're a metal fan and aren't planning on buying this album, then you're stupid...this is the best metal album of the year hands down...I don't care about any other release...this is fucking it.
