DARKNESS - Defenders Of Justice CD

Limited edition (500 copies) released in a standard jewel case with transparent tray and 12-page folded booklet, including poster, housed in a slipcase.

Although coming with a more polished and a marginally more technical sound, this effort doesn’t quite reach the lofty standards of the debut, but is a perfectly acceptable slab of the familiar now heavy/speedy amalgam which starts in a shatteringly aggressive manner with the Slayer-esque ball of fury "Bloodbath" and the almost as explosive "Inverted Winds". The pattern gets modified to more controlled galloping speed/thrash for "Battle to the Lust" and "Caligula" both more carefully-assembled numbers with more or less overt progressive pretensions, the band obviously aware of the more musically demanding environment of the late-80’s. Not so much, though, on the miscalculated clumsy mid-pacer "They Need a War" to which a most needed antidote is "Locked", another short aggressive outburst with Slayer’s “Reign in Blood” brought to mind once again. However, the more elaborate aspirations cry out for more freedom, and here comes "Predetermined Destiny" to provide an interesting compendium of speedy skirmishes, balladic/semi-balladic etudes, and a few nice virtuoso lead sections.

Diversity is again the name of the game in the band’s repertoire, but the absence of such instant headbangers’ hits like “Critical Threshold” and “Faded Pictures”, or engulfing, dark atmospheric epicers like “Burial at Sea” that made the debut such a compulsive listen, prevents this opus from being equally and easily as memorable. On the other hand, it’s hard to point at any serious pitfalls, the mentioned "They Need a War" an unmitigated exception, as the song-writing is fairly consistent also punctuated by Oliver Fernickel’s (R.I.P.) characteristic hoarse semi-declamatory vocals.