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Artist: Darkwater |
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Darkwater were formed in 2003 and released their critically acclaimed
debut ‘Calling The Earth To Witness’ in 2007.
Now it's time for the band to continue where that
album left off with their latest opus ‘Where The Stories End’.
Having recently reviewed the latest release by 7 Days, the band formed around guitarist Markus Sigfridsson,
I can confirm that this
is clearly a very different animal all together. The main difference
is where 7 Days has several vocalists, Darkwater has only the might of
Hanrik Båth at the mike. Hanrik along with Sigfridsson, Simon Andersson on
bass, Tobias Enbert on drums and Magnus Holmberg on keyboards, deliver a more Melodic
Metal offering rather than the Progressive elements found in 7 Days. The album get's off
to a fantastic start with ‘Breathe’, as the thunderous Swedes get
hold of the listener from the word go with some stirring keyboards with
the backing of a solid bass and drum barrage, but it's when the guitars of
Sigfridsson and the vocals of Båth take the reigns that the track really
starts. It's full on Melodic Metal, a real storming opener in anyone's
book. The full blown
Melodic Heavy Metal continues with the fantastic ‘Why I Bleed’.
This
one starts off with some gentle strings before powering on through with the big guns of Enbert on drums and Andersson on bass, while
Holmberg keeps it real with some sublime keyboards, joined by Båth’s
vocals that power through the high octane metal like a razor driving the
track to even greater heights. You're given no rest
bite as the album continues to impress with the powerhouse keyboard
infused ‘Into The Cold’, before the gentle but
still powerful, soundings of ‘A Fools Utopia’ providing a short rest
bite. Did I say it was
just a short rest bite, well it is as it's all guns blazing once more with
‘Queen Of The Night’, with the drums dominating the piece, along with
some fine guitar work from Sigfridsson. Although the real classy piece from
the whole album has to be ‘In The Blink Of An Eye’, a great mix of
orchestration and majestic keys get this one underway before again the
rhythm section takes it upon itself to blow you out of the water with a
sonic torpedo of bass lines and sidewinder squalls of drums. Then the
icing on the cake is the superb vocals of Båth. A great power driven
vocal once again. The real test
of an outstanding metal vocalist is one that can not only sustain power, but
also keep the rich melodies without losing them to screaming and Båth
can do this in spades. As you can hear throughout the album. The top rank
Melodic Metal keeps on coming with the mighty ‘Fields Of Sorrow’ and
the equally massive sounds ‘Without A Sound’, before the album comes
to a close with ‘Walls Of Deception’. Probably the most progressive
of all the tracks on the album. I have to say the most progressive
elements are probably
because the keyboards come through the massive bass and drums a lot more
on this one than previous tracks, but the power is still there so
don’t worry, the album doesn’t fade out on a whimper, there is still
plenty of oomph in the track. This is a great
album for those who like the likes of Symphony X, Evergrey and Dream
Theater and good sonically driven Metal. |
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Tracklisting: 1.
Breathe |
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