Review DARKNESS ‘Blood on Canvas’

It seems like most of the 80’s thrash metal bands have reunited in the last few years. One of these bands is Darkness from Germany. The band from the Ruhr area released three albums in the second half of the 80’s, and especially the furious debut “Death Squad” could create some attention in the German metal underground. The guys belonged to the second wave of German thrash metal bands, which also meant that they always stayed in the shadow of greats like Sodom and Kreator.

After splitting in 1991, Darkness returned in 2013 with Lacky and Arnd as the driving forces and remaining members of the band’s first era. With ‘Blood on Canvas’ the next thrash metal assault from Essen will be unleashed in April and the longplayer offers a total of nine powerful metal tracks.

‘Wake Up In Rage’ is the opener and the alerting signal at the beginning certainly helps to get your attention. Darkness make it clear right away that this album is a musical blast and compromises aren’t what the listener should expect.

One song you shouldn’t miss is ‘Nights in Turmoil’. Kept at a moderate pace, it’s one of the songs that doesn’t just follow a full blast approach. This doesn’t mean that ‘Night in Turmoil’ is a breathless song. On the contrary. Darkness show that they can play heavy and aggressive without relying on speed as the only ingredient.

The acoustic intro of ‘Human Flesh Wanted’ is another element that contributes to the well-designed flow of the album, and not to forget the eight-minute title track that closes the album. The five-piece shows what they have in their musical toolbox. Acoustic moments, groovy parts and furious thrash metal, it all comes together on ‘Blood on Canvas’ and in a way sums up the whole musical spectrum of Darkness.

‘Blood on Canvas’ is a well-crafted thrash metal album that captures the spirit of the 80’s while sounding modern. These nine songs are very solid headbangers that will find friends inside and outside of Germany.