Prosthetic Records

Darkane – The Sinister Supremacy Review

Darkane – The Sinister Supremacy Review

Darkane is a band is that has been somewhat overlooked over their fifteen plus year career despite some solid output. Born in the second wave of Swedish melodic death metal, they were strongly influenced by the likes of At the Gates, Dark Tranquility and Soilwork. They made their bones crafting, thrashy, technically impressive death with plenty of melody and references to the “Gothenburg sound” and albums like Rusted Angel, Expanding Senses and Layers of Lies were enjoyably intense assaults on the listener full of vicious riffs and harsh vocals, all sugar-coated with slick, technical prowess. Unfortunately for the band, their birth more or less coincided with the explosion of metalcore bands equally influenced by the Swedish melo-death sound and Darkane quickly got lost amid a sea of crappy core.” Can these melo-death mongrels re-establish themselves after a five year hiatus or is it too little too late in a genre that has began to dry up?

Through the Eyes of the Dead – Skepsis Review

Through the Eyes of the Dead – Skepsis Review

I have been admittedly absent when it comes to much of the deathcore & metalcore trend that has moved into metal in the last decade. Honestly, it’s just been a style that I never really understood and that oftentimes felt like it wasn’t as straight-up metal as I wanted from my extreme metal. I had some major issues with it partially just because labels started flooding their rosters with it, despite it not being that interesting. Also, there are some production styles that were brought into the genre by “core” bands, particularly the drum sounds, that I really don’t like. And partially this is due to my deep distaste for the breakdown as an institution in metal. I don’t listen to hardcore for several reasons and one of them is the breakdown. I don’t think breakdowns are interesting or heavy and their usage in metal has long been of serious frustration to me. So let me say in all honesty, I wasn’t expecting much of the record Skepsis, the third album from deathcore pioneers Through the Eyes of the Dead.