Would you like to make a space trip? If so, then climb aboard the spaceship of Darkspace, their latest album Dark Space III I. For those who don’t know, Darkspace are a Swiss trio featuring Zharal of Sun of the Blind, and Wroth of Paysage d'Hiver; the band was formed in 1999 and has released four albums to date. Darkspace are the founders and, for all I know, the only exponents of this style, a sort of space atmospheric black metal; their style is unique.
Dark Space III I consists of three songs, all titled “Dark” with the addition of a decimal number, for a total playtime of over an hour; very long songs then. You will be immediately thrown into a kind of a science fiction atmosphere with synths and lasers at the beginning of the first song “Dark 4.18”; it is a crescendo: the drum machine begins a furious tempo and then you are overwhelmed and carried away by a haunting melody. Everything is very psychotic, and in this fast-paced journey you need a rest; so after 11 minutes the song has a break and you can hear a breathless pant as if you needed to get your breath back. But it is only a moment because the song resumes immediately its claustrophobic interstellar journey. It is an apparent oxymoron, but the darkness of the cosmic space will make you feel anguish. At the beginning of the second track “Dark 4.19” we hear again synths, lasers and painful screaming voices, and again the same wheezing. This time the break does not last long either, because the spaceship lifts off again and you are once more taken away. In this song the pace is more hammering compared to the furious blast beat of the first song. “Dark 4.20”, the last song, also has a calm beginning, which then quickly turns into furious blast beats and asphyxiated melodies. And everywhere misanthropic screams.
Dark III I is an album that develops consistently the band's sound; it is a circular album, so to say, in a sense that each song begins in much the same way, and there are returning elements that create unity; the atmospheres make me think of the inscrutable laws of the universe. The music of Darkspace has this unique quality of carrying you on a science fiction journey and of making you feel suspended in the space among stars, galaxies, and planets, and above all of making you feel infinitely small. But it is also a music that is deeply, genuinely black metal. Of course it is a genre that has a couple of congenital drawbacks, for example the songs are too long and the drum machines sound sometimes too techno, but if you are into it, you will only see the positive sides. Superb!
Notes:
Release date: September 6 2014 on Avantgarde Music. The album was released as a digi-pack limited to 500 copies of which 230 were sold at the release party in Berne, Switzerland. Due to a misprint, the remaining 270 were destroyed, both disc and digipacks.
Tracklist:
1. Dark 4.18
2. Dark 4.19
3. Dark 4.20
Personnel:
Zorgh: Bass, Vocals
Zhaaral: Guitars, Vocals
Wroth: Guitars, Vocals
Text by Herjann
herjann@unholyblackmetal.com
Dark Space III I consists of three songs, all titled “Dark” with the addition of a decimal number, for a total playtime of over an hour; very long songs then. You will be immediately thrown into a kind of a science fiction atmosphere with synths and lasers at the beginning of the first song “Dark 4.18”; it is a crescendo: the drum machine begins a furious tempo and then you are overwhelmed and carried away by a haunting melody. Everything is very psychotic, and in this fast-paced journey you need a rest; so after 11 minutes the song has a break and you can hear a breathless pant as if you needed to get your breath back. But it is only a moment because the song resumes immediately its claustrophobic interstellar journey. It is an apparent oxymoron, but the darkness of the cosmic space will make you feel anguish. At the beginning of the second track “Dark 4.19” we hear again synths, lasers and painful screaming voices, and again the same wheezing. This time the break does not last long either, because the spaceship lifts off again and you are once more taken away. In this song the pace is more hammering compared to the furious blast beat of the first song. “Dark 4.20”, the last song, also has a calm beginning, which then quickly turns into furious blast beats and asphyxiated melodies. And everywhere misanthropic screams.
Dark III I is an album that develops consistently the band's sound; it is a circular album, so to say, in a sense that each song begins in much the same way, and there are returning elements that create unity; the atmospheres make me think of the inscrutable laws of the universe. The music of Darkspace has this unique quality of carrying you on a science fiction journey and of making you feel suspended in the space among stars, galaxies, and planets, and above all of making you feel infinitely small. But it is also a music that is deeply, genuinely black metal. Of course it is a genre that has a couple of congenital drawbacks, for example the songs are too long and the drum machines sound sometimes too techno, but if you are into it, you will only see the positive sides. Superb!
Notes:
Release date: September 6 2014 on Avantgarde Music. The album was released as a digi-pack limited to 500 copies of which 230 were sold at the release party in Berne, Switzerland. Due to a misprint, the remaining 270 were destroyed, both disc and digipacks.
Tracklist:
1. Dark 4.18
2. Dark 4.19
3. Dark 4.20
Personnel:
Zorgh: Bass, Vocals
Zhaaral: Guitars, Vocals
Wroth: Guitars, Vocals
Text by Herjann
herjann@unholyblackmetal.com