Darkrise were an unknown quantity to me before pressing play on their new release, even though ‘Realeyes’ is in fact the fourth full length album from this Swiss five piece since they formed back in the late 90s. Hell, I’ll admit that I’m not even acquainted with the label at all, so had no preconception as to what to expect when the musical fury shot from my speakers like a rabid pitbull with a bum full of red ants.
For the most part, Darkrise are very much a modern death metal band, super tight, polished with impressive musicianship. On strictly musical terms – brutality reigns, but there’s a deft thrashiness to the riffwork which sets it apart from the usual growling/gurgling ‘brutal’ death metal bands which seem to pour out of the underground like a recently unclogged sewer pipe. But don’t get me wrong though, these guys aren’t afraid to dally with melody as is proved by the occasional solo, eerie lick or gentle acoustic passage. Generally though, Darkrise are all about the deep, Nile-like angry growling, manic riffwork, piledriving drums and springy bass. Now, we’re not talking insanely technical riffage a la Deeds of Flesh, these guys generally keep it real with pretty standard song structures, but with a good dose of variation thrown in (similar to the likes of Melechesh, but not so much variation that one track can sound like a completely different band to the next, there’s a definite common vibe which runs throughout). The riffs are generally choppy, quick changing and aggressive and when backed with the monstrous drumming and throat rattling growls can certainly have you nodding your head, but (and here is my main gripe) unfortunately even after a few spins there’s no real riffs or songs that are stand out or blow you away.
As the case with a lot of modern death metal – it just feels pretty soulless and sterile when it’s straight out blasting, though in Darkrise’s defence the variation and different vibe certain tracks give it more life than “generic death metal band X”. If it wasn’t for the variation and experimentation in sound however (which even in itself at times feels ‘tacked on’ to a number of tracks), I’d definitely say one song bleeds into the next, and before you know it – that’s your lot – “Darkrise to Bland-leford”. There’s clearly tons of enthusiasm and effort that has been put into this album as is evident from its very scale, but does it make them stand head and shoulders above the cream of the death metal scene? No. Does it make for a tasty morsel for someone wanting some modern, tight and angry death metal? It sure does.
(6.5/10 Lars Christiansen)
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