Subject: Review of Dark - 'Endless Dreams Of Sadness'
Newsgroups: alt.rock-n-roll.metal.death
Date: Fri, 16 May 1997 16:16:01 +0100


BASIC INFO

No. Of Tracks: 13
Duration: 60 minutes
Gun Records
P+C 1997

REVIEW

Well, we've got Darkthrone, Dark Angel, Dark Millenium, Dark Embrace,
Darkwoods My Betrothed, Darkseed, etc... so 'Dark' isn't exactly what I
would call an original bandname. (Of course, they might just be taking
the piss by opting for such a simple monicker). Musically this band are
probably best described as Melodic Death Metal, but the few aggressive
moments are far outnumbered by the somewhat poofy moments which use
overlashings of synth and whatnot. I'd say the style is somewhat similar
to Crematory.

It's not bad, but whilst I appreciate atmospheric metal, this album is
often a bit too airy-fairy for my liking. Admittedly, I think 'Nemesis
Of Neglect' and 'Dawn Of The Gods' are pretty good songs, but later
tracks like 'In Darkness' and the first few minutes of 'Vision' owe more
to (insert name of any lightweight chart music ballad here) than
anything else.

A few songs include some female vocals, and there's some nice acoustic
guitar. The main vocals are reasonably deep throaty death vocals, which
are good - but I must say, I'm not fond of the lyrics. Take these
examples, for instance: "the rage grows stronger when I see the pictures
in the news/I cannot understand why no one stops these cruelties."
Hardly suitable for Death Metal, is it? 'When The Love Is Gone' is a
horribly romantic song, with lines like "my sweet love, I love you,
until the end will fall..." needless to say, such lyrics make me wish to
expell copious amounts of vomit through my mouth and into the nearest
lavatory. And I think "you're creating a land of milk and honey/where
everything seems to be funny" is possibly the daftest rhyming couplet in
the history of the universe.

Well, it does have some good bits - the band are decent enough
musicians, and the songwriting's not too bad. Some of the melodies are
quite pleasing to the ear, etc. - but taken as a whole, it's not really
my cup of tea. I prefer Crematory when it comes to this sort of thing.

Rating: 6 and a half out of 10.