Rough Edge Recorded Music Reviews: Darkness

Germany thrashers Darkness deliver a pummeling collection of jackhammer rockers with their new album, "Blood on Canvas."

"Blood on Canvas" is loaded with thrash metal drive, including furious guitars, pounding drums and locomotive bass. Fat riffs and fiery leads strike like thunder and lightning throughout. Outstanding production gives the entire album a bigger-than-life sound that makes the music sound even bigger and better.

Unlike some other thrash metal albums, the tracks on "Blood on Canvas" don't blend together. They're all killer thrash tunes, but they're different enough not to all sound the same. My favorite tracks are the opener, "Wake Up in Rage," which immediately gets your blood pumping, "Nights in Turmoil" with its Conan the Barbarian drums and "Defcon 4," which barely maintains control in its speedy fury. The album ends with the over eight minute title track which builds to a raging crescendo as it tells its surprisingly full story.

I haven't listened to much, if any, of Darkness in the past but "Blood on Canvas" has me itching to hunt down their previous recordings ASAP.

For more information, check out https://www.facebook.com/darknessdeathsquad/.