Darkane
The Sinister Supremacy

Is a sinister supremacy something achieved by five years of silence of the album front? That is what Swedes of Darkane thinks if one is to believe the title of their latest effort called The Sinister Supremacy which is their sixth album so far. Not much has happened in terms of the band over the years, Lawrence Mackrory has replaced Jens Broman as vocalist but other than that it is difficult to see much difference on the outside. But five years has past since those great highlights Demigod and Demonic Art from their latest album Demonic Art which I reviewed back in 2008 and I recall those tracks and their sound despite not having played the album once since back then. I did refresh my memory though just to see if I was right.

I don’t think the change in singer does much, perhaps Mackrory works a little better on the aggressive side but there is not much between them. The music is catchy thrash metal a bit in the direction of the so called groove metal stuff. It is powerful yet melodic and catchy, excellently produced with the vocal dynamics between the clean and growly works really well. Quality production no doubt. The album is a bit on the long side though with the standard version being almost fifty minutes long on twelve tracks and the one with bonus tracks is just short of the hour with the two tracks added. That is a bit of a shame as it takes away some of the brilliance.

I think this album should have neared conclusion at track 7-8-9 somewhere and ended the track after but instead that area is where the album sort of ends up self-inflicting some harm, and with harm I mean lack of interest. I loose my interest towards the end of this album despite the final of the bonus tracks which is a very good track but the album is already left at that point. A shame for sure because the album starts out excellently with a racket of brilliant tracks to really woe the listener. Then it starts falling away towards the end which earns the album four point, just as the predecessor which also had its strength in some tracks rather than the whole. The title track is fantastic, I think that should not be overlooked.

I think I arrive at the same conclusion as last time around, the strength of this album is in the best tracks like the title tracks and the next pair of tracks. These are the memorable tracks that will most likely be remembered by me just like the best one of the last album but as a whole I still feel that the album doesn’t quite reach the band’s potential. It is a good album no denying that but I just feel it could have been much greater had the album been closer to the quality of its opening ten-fifteen minutes. Nevertheless, if you are a thrash or melodic death metal fan, then you’ll probably be much impressed by this album. I will take with me the best parts and then hope that we will have to wait less than five years for the next album by Darkane.

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