Album Review: Darkest Hour - The Human Romance

Back with their first release since leaving Victory Records, Darkest Hour have returned with 'The Human Romance' and are as fierce and heavy as ever. From the opening thrashing moments of 'The World Engulfed In Flames', Darkest Hour manage to continuously produce aggressive and structured metal at its very best.

Tracks like 'Savor The Kill' and 'Man & Swine' push the band to their limits and dense in sound due to the bands pounding approach. Whereas 'Love As A Weapon' sees John Henry's vocals dominant and winning the battle against Mike Carrigan's and Mike Schleibaum's tight, well-skilled guitar work.

Elsewhere 'Violent by Nature' and 'Purgatory' are the expected, somewhat typical Darkest Hour numbers but the bands dense sound is brilliantly layered and keeps you listening.

Throughout they are subtly melodic and avoid the pitfall of becoming an all out metal band with no structure. Instead 'The Human Romance' is a concise, well-structured record that sees Darkest Hour's experience and understanding for the genre coming together brilliantly, as each track fits the temple nearly perfectly. The downfall of the record is that at times you feel a slight change in variation would be welcomed, as there are moments where the band come across as one dimensional.

4/5

'The Human Romance' by Darkest Hour is available now on E1 Music (US)/Century Media (UK).

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Darkest Hour on Facebook and MySpace.

Sean Reid