MY DARKEST TIME: Dawn
My Darkest Time is a band unlikely to fit into any box that you might devise to contain it. The band hails from Macedonia, and though their name remains unrecognized by most, they have been a band since 2005 and Dawn is album #5 for them. If you just have to slap a label on them- I might say progressive metal, only because it is broad enough and eccentric enough to encompass all that My Darkest Time has going on here. Their trademark sound is built upon emotive middle eastern guitar tones played over a steady rhythm section of unrelenting double bass drums and bass. There are two main vocalists- clean female vocals singing in a mid range symphonic style, and gruff male vocals, discernable, but with a thick Russian accent. This vocal twist sounds odd, it’s not quite the “beauty and the beast” approach used by some death metal bands lately, but then again, this is not death metal at all. But aside from brief moments in “Don’t Leave…” and “Lord Have Mercy,” the vocals are rarely the focal point. Instead you’ll find yourself mesmerized in the double bass, or in the middle eastern flavored guitar work, or the searing solos toward the end of the title track. The band blurs the lines between rock and metal, sometimes doomy and others speedy- often within the same track, and several times I heard little snippets of guitar that reminded me of that famous Buck Dharma (Blue Oyster Cult) sound.
Lyrics are poetic and overtly Christian in message. Mr. Angel7 himself, Slava Malinin, was at the boards for this one. Great obscure band, easy to get lost in the minutiae of details on this album. Let’s get their name out there, so future albums won’t be so hard to find. (Lament Records) – 4 Out of 5 Stars https://www.facebook.com/mydarkesttime/
About Author
