Darkest Hour

Editor's Review:

Deliver Us is lethally potent and well written from start to finish. The foreboding intro on “Doomsayer” sets the grim tone for the album. The soaring guitars of Darkest Hour stand in stark contrast to the gloomy, bludgeoning beat of the band’s rhythm. Vocalist John Henry incorporates a message amid the mayhem — a dark one. Henry’s metal howl is tempered with spoken word on “At the Edge of the World” and singing on  “Sanctuary” and “Tunguska.” Guitarists Kris Norris and Mike Schleibaum solo gloriously on “Demon(s)” and “An Ethereal Drain.” Drummer Ryan Parrish and bassist Paul Burnette dig a grave rhythm on “Tunguska” and “Full Imperial Collapse.”  The art on the album cover is by the exceptionally talented John Dyer Baizley, singer/guitarist for Baroness. Baizley’s art also appears on albums by Pig Destroyer, Skeletonwitch and Kylesa. It’s reassuring to see the liner notes state, “No keyboards were used in this recording.” Deliver Us gets better with repeat listening, leaving little to criticize. Some songs seem to become lost in the fray such as “Sanctuary” and “Stand and Receive Your Judgment,” but the overall song quality is very high. Burnette’s bass sounds mournfully understated, more akin to Metallica’s AJFA than Maiden’s Seventh Son. Darkest Hour’s newest album is a bleak reminder to, and a somber soundtrack for, a world arming for the apocalypse.


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Record Label Victory Released July 2007

Tracks Doomsayer (The Beginning of the End) Sanctuary Demon(s) An Ethereal Drain A Paradox With Flies The Light at the Edge of the World Stand and Receive Your Judgment Tunguska Fire in the Skies Full Imperial Collaps Deliver Us

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