Metal fans everywhere have another epic thrash record to head bang to with Darkest Hour’s newest album, “Deliver Us.” The album is full of raw throat growling, insane guitar solos and heavy drum beats that showcase how far Darkest Hour has come in the past 12 years.
“Deliver Us” is the band’s fifth full-length album and is the highest-reaching on the Billboard album charts to date.
Darkest Hour sounds like As I Lay Dying with a little more Children of Bodom-style fantasy metal thrown in as well as a touch of old school hardcore. This is a band for all of the basketball-jersey-wearing-two-stepping core kids and the-long-hair-take-no-showers metalheads.
The album begins with “Doomsayer (The Beginning of the End),” which has a slow intro but suddenly halts and dives into vocalist John Henry’s pipes from hell. Lead guitarist Kris Norris doesn’t disappoint with unrelenting guitar solos that reek of epic metal. Bassist Paul Burnette, guitarist Mike Schleibaum and drummer Ryan Parrish add to the organized chaos that makes up the foundation of this metal house.
Track six, “The Light at the Edge of the World,” is a much-needed intermission song. Henry’s voice is muted out and can be barely heard over Norris’ melodic guitar solo. The song serves as quiet before the storm, which erupts with the next track “Stand and Receive Your Judgment.” This song is one of the strongest songs on the album and is solid all the way through. Norris releases some of the best flinger-slinging solos on this track, and Henry’s voice is just a mess of growls, snarls and indistinguishable lyrics.
Some of the more lackluster tracks are “Sanctuary” and “An Ethereal Drain,” which are repetitive and feel like filler.
On the title track, Henry reveals some of his most personal lyrics: “This world is dying everyday, don’t let it come between us, our fate has traveled this far and now the storm, brings us faster to a close, brimming with pathetic prose. Don’t leave me, give me release.”
Overall, “Deliver Us” would make an excellent addition to any heavy metal collection, and Darkest Hour can only get better and better in the years to come.
