Next year will mark a full three decades as an active band for Washington DC’s cult metallic hardcore heroes Darkest Hour. During that time, they have created a pretty compelling argument for being the most underrated and under-appreciated band from that early 2000s, Killswitch Engage-led, metalcore boom. We’re now 10 albums in and the quintet are still full of the pace, ingenuity and spite that has made each of their albums such a pleasure.
Save for the excellent, acoustic opening to the Blind Melon-esque Mausoleum, there’s really nothing new or explorative on Perpetual | Terminal. But when you are as good at filtering classic thrash and melodic death metal through a punk rock framework as this band are, it doesn’t matter one jot. The two-stepping rhythms and warp-speed riffing that open Societal Bile and Love Is Fear or the Integrity-meets-At The Gates melodic brutality of New Utopian Dream might seem like easy tropes to rely on, but in the hands of Darkest Hour they sound absolutely box-fresh and essential.
