Darkseed

Poison Awaits

Written by: PP on 04/12/2010 03:50:14

I can't explain why but male-fronted gothic metal bands tend to outshine the female fronted ones at a ratio of about fifty to one. In other words, for every 50 generic gothic metal bands that are identical to each other, the ones with male singers tend to always adhere to a certain standard of quality, both instrumentally and vocally. Perhaps it's because the baritone, down-to-earth vocal tone adds just that much more conviction and believability to your sound, but my theory is that in female-fronted bands, the rest of the band are afraid of hurting the front-woman's feelings and thus go into unnecessary compromise over their sound where attention should have been necessary.

Pointless rambling and hypothesis aside, this is where Darkseed comes in with their sixth album "Poison Awaits". They share a lot in common with slightly more melancholic acts like Entwine, For My Pain.... and Poisonblack than with the operatic heights of bands like Nightwish, Tristania, et al. That alone guarantees my attention as Darkseed are more of a darkened rock band than a conventional gothic outfit by definition, relying on semi-metallic riffs but mostly balladic delivery to create some anthemic, even catchy choruses in places. There's just something special about a male singing in such a melancholic, saddened, blackened tone as the guy on this album that makes the music sound interesting to this particular scribe. Call it my weakness if you will, but there's just no way around the fact that "Poison Awaits" sticks a bunch of catchy, dark rock songs together into a package that might resemble HIM if it wasn't as heavy and less commercially oriented by its nature.

That said, there are more than enough bands performing this very style out there. Luckily, Darkseed expand liberally into the realms of electronic music, integrating both industrial rhythms as well as typical electro-rock ideas into their music, a redeeming factor which lifts their album above so many identikit bands in the genre. They don't do it extensively, though, but just enough to make them stick out and sound interesting. That's why they come with a strong recommended tag for anyone into 'dark rock' or anything similar.

7

Download: All Is Vanity, Poison Awaits, Black Thorne
For the fans of: Entwine, Poisonblack, For My Pain...
Listen: Myspace

Release date 23.07.2010
Massacre Records

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