When I first put this album into my CD player and heard the music eminating from my stereo the first thing that popped into my mind is "what the fuck is this?". Rather than take it out of my stereo I let the CD spin a few times and gave it a thorough listen. Darkseed are self described as melodic death metal, however I find this reference does not fit the music at all, there is nothing heavy or deathly about this release apart from a snarl tossed in here and there. Darkseed can best be described as melodic rock with touches of gothic, electronica/dance and pop. The bio included with the promo did not mention a member listing and I’m not familiar with the band’s earlier works, so forgive me for simply referring the members as "the guitarist" and "the vocalist". The album opens with a gentle keyboard and light guitar intro for "Forever Darkness", which reminds me a bit of the way Delerium (side project of Rhys Fulber of Front Line Assembly/Fear Factory which includes Sarah McLachlan on one of the releases, it’s actually a really good band, if you’re into atmospheric "earthy" music) opens up most of their tracks. The music which plays on this track has a fair amount of electronica keyboarding going on in the background, however it just blends into the background and doesn’t really come to the forefront of the music, which is at least a plus. The riffing is pretty much just the same few chords repeated over and over without displaying anything overly technical, the emphasis is placed on playing simple catchy rhythms. The same can be said for the rest of the songs on the album. Vocally, the first track has a blend of a gritty snarl typical of most melodic death metal bands mixed with just normal singing. However, beginning with the second track, "I Deny You", the vocal sound and patterns are much more along the lines of James Hetfield’s more recent attempts; Load and the more recent albums. For the most part the music sounds like a blend between newer Type O Negative mixed with newer Metallica with sampling similar to the type on Danzig’s blackacidevil (which I actually like), with possibly a bit of a bass-heavy melodic Fear Factory-ish flavor to the beginnings of "Can’t Find You" and "Left Alone" with plenty of unnecessary guitar wanking Slash wanna-be solos strewn throughout. Apparently this band is extremely popular in Germany, then again so is Metallica, and at one point wearing silly helmets with the spikes from metal fences sticking out of the top of them and saluting a short man with a ridiculous looking mustache was popular over there too, so that really doesn’t say much. This music is more or less destined to help Nuclear Blast get some albums sold, lots of radio airplay and possibly even some videoplay on MTV. It’s not necessarily shit… well, maybe it is, depending on your opinion of newer Metallica, but… well, I said enough already, haven’t I? Overall the music is actually rather catchy and should appeal to teenage girls who like to scream and throw their underwear to bands on stage, but fans of decent melodic death metal will most likely vomit when they hear this. At least the artwork has given me a few ideas to try out the next time I decide to piss around with graphics.

Written By: Teufel