Darkane-The Sinister Supremacy

Prosthetic Records
2013

For the uninitiated Darkane, which was formed from the ashes of Agretator back in 1998, is a Swedish melodic death metal/progressive thrash act. That's quite the mouthful, description-wise at least, but it all boils down to a veteran act that has been at it for a long time. In fact their first full-length album, "Rusted Angel", was released back at the tail end of 1999. That album, which was really well-received by fans, featured vocalist Lawrence Mackrory. After that one album Mackrory would be gone but the rest of the group remained fairly stable. Now here it is 14 something years later and the group is back where it all started. Album number six sees the welcomed return of  lead vocalist Lawrence Mackrory then and man alive it sure does sound as if his return has invigorated Darkane! It's as if someone woke the sleeping giant that had been  laying dormant in Darkane as the way this album cuts through the sky it's nothing short of inspired! It's been 5 long years since this Swedish 5-piece last put out an album ("Demonic Art" which received mixed reviews) so this album's sense of underlying sense of urgency makes sense. While I lost track of the band after "Rusted Angel", which was an album that I, at some point along the way of moving between this house and that house and so one, had and then misplaced (it was/is on iTunes so I ended up just downloading it eventually), I can tell you that the some metallic excitement that I felt back then is here on "The Sinister Supremacy". As that last sentence was a bit of a long winded run off I do humbly apologize. When it comes to heavy metal and the like though there is still a passion burning in my gut so when good albums come along like this one (unexpectedly I might add) it still rattles these old bones of mine and brings a smile to my face. All of which brings us right back around to this album. Darkane, in a fashion that seems as if the material on hand was given plenty of time to mature (from reviews of their last album, which again was 5 years ago!, it definitely comes across as if this new one is more well-written and better executed then their last album), has a really good release on their hands here. We can only hope that vocalist Lawrence Mackrory sticks around this time as no one, or at least this particular someone, wants to see the band returning to uninspired and cold metal.