DARKENED
Kingdom Of Decay EDGED CIRCLE
Death metal stalwarts emerge from their realm of chaos
Darkened are your typical 21st-century supergroup, spread over two continents and with an album created solely through file sharing. Yet, somehow, their debut album works. Their combined résumés (A Canorous Quintet, Grave, Dismember, Excruciate etc) help, as does getting onboard with one of the architects of their main influence - Bolt Thrower drummer Andy Whale. But once through those well-trodden battlefields, the album’s second half embarks on a doomier, more personal journey, resurrecting the kind of accessible death metal that took bands like Hypocrisy to the main stages of the festival circuit in the late 90s. It’s where Darkened truly come into their own.