Review DARKANE ‘Inhuman Spirits’

Darkane from Helsingborg, Sweden started when bands like Dark Tranquillity and In Flames were already on their way to the top of Swedish death metal. Even though the five musicians could never really catch up with this lead, they managed to constantly expand their fanbase with very good albums.

With ‘Demonic Art’ the band released a fine album in 2008, before it became silent about Darkane. Long was radio silence before the guys released with ‘The Sinister Supremacy’ a new album in 2013. Then came the next long lasting hibernation until the quintet give a loud wake-up call with ‘Inhuman Spirits’. The question is what to expect from Darkane nine years after the release of their last album. The answer is: a lot.

What roars out of the speakers convinces from the first to the last note. Darkane manage the balancing act between rough death metal sounds and great hooks. In this context the very good ‘A Spiral to Nothing’ should be mentioned. Helsingborg is not too far away from Gothenburg and also Darkane’s sound has some meloidic death metal elements that remind of the mentioned bands. Nevertheless, the men from Helsingborg manage to develop an independent sound, which is a very good sign in a genre that seems to have heard almost all of it.

Darkane leave nothing to chance and start with ‘Inhuman Spirits’ brilliantly into the new record. A driving rhythm shows immediately where things are heading. There is no time for messing around. Full throttle is the motto and there is no lack of it on ‘Inhuman Spirits’. A song that reflects the full power of Darkane is ‘Embrace the Flames’ with its breathtaking speed and impressive precision. Thrash metal hints can also be found here, which gives the song and the album a kind of variety.

A track that should not be missed is the rather epic ‘The Quintessence of Evil’. A little more bombastic and not quite as fast as most of the other tracks, this song draws its power from songwriting skill.

Not releasing an album for such a long period always entails the risk of losing spirit and power. Not in this case. Darkane seem to have used the time in-between records to regroup and re-energize. ‘Inhuman Spirits’ is a great return of a band that disappeared a bit off the radar but never stopped living metal.