Darkane: Inhuman Spirits

Swedish metallers Darkane return with their new album Inhuman Spirits, their seventh album over the course of a career that spans back to 1998.

In my opinion Darkane are an under rated band. Sure, they’ve had a successful career in many respects, but at the same time they don’t necessarily get the same plaudits that many of their contemporaries are afforded, especially the big names from the Gothenburg scene. If I try to put my finger on reasons for this, I believe it is because they’re too Thrash to be considered melodic death metal, contain too much melodeth in their sound to be considered a thrash band, and certainly wouldn’t be considered ‘metalcore’. Lots of bands from the Sweedish scene are considered to be ‘melodic death metal’ despite merging clean and growled vocals, but for whatever reason the way that Darkane blend their vocal styles and instrumentation may have put them into a ‘sub-genre limbo’ of sorts - in turn this may have impacted their ability to appeal to a core set of fans. Additionally their relatively modest number of live performances in recent times may also be a contributing factor in determining their current day popularity. With that said (and on a personal note) I enjoy the merging of styles that Darkane offer - They’ll often sound a little like At the Gates and Testament or In Flames and middle-era-Exodus during a single track - it’s a relatively unique and a welcome blend of styles to my ears.

When I listen to this album it sounds to me like the work of a band who have set out to write a great album. Every track seems to have been crafted with a high degree of care and effort. Whether it’s an orchestral arrangement supplementing the heavy riffing, a complex outro passage or a mid-track breakdown and lead break, there always seems to be something that is able to press the right buttons for me. There’s little sign of an underdeveloped idea or overly simplistic track on here, but that’s not totally surprising given it’s nearly a decade since the release of The Sinister Supremacy (2013). Subsequently it’s very hard to single out specific tracks for extra praise, although the album opener "Inhuman Spirits" has a particularly great chorus and I love the melodic riffing in The Quintessence of Evil. At a stretch the brief/mellow album closer "Vålnader" (which is essentially just a stark piano line) seems slightly unnecessary, but that’s literally it when it comes to negatives.

The other aspect that cannot be neglected in a review of Darkane and the Inhuman Spirits album is the musicianship. They’ve got high quality contributors and performances across the board, with the vocals, guitars and drumming being particularly head turning. With the calibre of the performance and song craft coupled with the typical high quality modern metal production, you really do get a great quality product with this album.

Track Listing
1 Inhuman Spirits
2 Awakening
3 Embrace The Flames
4 Conspiracies Of The Flesh
5 Inhaling Mental Chaos
6 Mansion Of Torture
7 The Quintessence Of Evil
8 A Spiral To Nothing
9 The Great Deceiver
10 VÃ¥lnader

Added: November 23rd 2022
Reviewer: Chris Reid
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
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Language: english

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