Search - Darkane :: Layers of Lies

Quality Thrash Album!!

Chris Conlan (BreakingCustom.com) | Iowa | 08/02/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Review by Tyler Wagnon:



Ah, yes, the mighty Darkane. These technical Swedish thrashers have been around for several years now and with Layers of Lies, their fourth full-length album, they find the middle ground between the blistering technical thrash of 2001's Insanity and the more melodic material they hinted at on 2002's Expanding Senses.



Naturally, there are lots of speedy fret burning riffs throughout the album, but the Swedes mix things up with great solos and mid-pace groove parts (check out the break at about 2 minutes into "Contaminated"). They have all but dropped the cyber-metal feel of 1999's Rusted Angel, but it still pops up a lot in the choruses, bringing to mind Strapping Young Lad and even Fear Factory, but less mechanical.



With the more melodic sound of Expanding Senses, it seemed like Darkane were heading down the same path as their Swedish brethren Soilwork and In Flames, but luckily they have stuck to their roots to a degree and released a quality thrash album. Recommended if you like Carnal Forge, Strapping Young Lad, and to an extent Fear Factory."

Blistering thrash metal

Murat Batmaz | Istanbul, Turkey | 12/11/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Darkane's fourth album Layers of Lies is their return to form release, in many ways akin to their debut album Rusted Angel, which is not only their heaviest but also most technical work. Compared to the more melodic Expanding Senses, the new album is a lot more aggressive and intricate in its song arrangements and production. Quite possibly their best work sonically, the sound is massive, the guitar tones are thick and heavy, the drums are perfectly balanced, and the vocal harmonies are gold. Andreas Sydow has a knack for writing some of the catchiest vocal lines within the Swedish thrash/death genre, as he opts for excellent aggressive thrash vocals during the verses and suddenly moves into huge multi-track harmonies in the choruses. In the beginning of "Organic Canvas", he sings very aggressively, almost in an 80's thrash tone, while complex guitar riffs and hyper-fast drums wrap themselves around his demonic tone, but as the main chorus kicks in, we're left alone with a massive wall of sound harmony where his voice is recorded twice brilliantly layered on top of the ominous guitar and keyboard soundscape. The song concludes with an incredible guitar solo. You'd expect Christofer Malmstrom to shred his heart out after such a complex piece, but on the contrary, he plays delicately melodic yet still there is an undeniable aggression in his phrasing. Awesome lead tone too.



Darkane displays sheer brutality in the verse sections of the songs a la Strapping Young Lad meets Biomechanical meets Meshuggah, and abruptly crashes into soaring melodies that constantly shift between brutal screams and gripping harmonies. The moody intro of "Fading Dimensions" shows no sign of what's yet to come or may even mislead the listener. Suddenly epic chunks of guitar riffs begin to build and eventually spiral into death-inflected thrash metal whilst Sydow's vocals during the chorus crash over like a tidal wave. I don't think I've ever heard another band that can create this kind of tension except Devin Townsend's Strapping Young Lad. Also, the guitar work is impeccable here. Malmstrom employs exotic scales on several tunes on this disc, experimenting with whimsical chord progressions and odd guitar tunings. Much like its predecessor, the title track kicks in with dark acoustic arpeggios before diving headlong into the most memorable Darkane chorus to date, sung entirely in clean vocals. The song is punctuated with frequent shifts in time signatures, a full drum sound and deeply tortured screams. There is more exotic guitar stuff on "Godforsaken Universe" and "Vision of Degradation", which are interspersed with a brief instrumental track titled "Klastraphobic Hibernation". The dual lead guitars on "Vision of Degradation" once again betray Darkane's thrash metal roots, as Malmstrom's textural, almost dreamlike playing underlies his love for smooth, melodic songwriting. The following tracks are arguably less intense, or perhaps not as good as the first eight, but still, there's much to be heard on the industrial number "Contaminated", the progressive instrumental "Maelstrom Crises" (with a killer shred solo at the end), and the cold and mechanical "Decadent Messiah", which may be the most complex track on the album. Layers of Lies is sealed with "The Creation Insane", which basically combines Darkane's strongest aspects from precise guitar syncopatiton to blistering drumming and a powerful vocal performance and melts them all into a more old-school type of thrash metal context.



Layers of Lies is an excellent release. Someone called this futuristic thrash. I love that description. This is one of Darkane's finest albums."