Pan-international quintet Darkened may not exactly be a household name in the metal community, but they will be soon. While the band itself may only be slightly more than a year old, the collective experience of the band members is pretty incredible. Here’s the lineup for their debut LP:

Drums:  Andy Whale (ex Bolt Thrower/Memoriam)

Bass:  Tobias Cristiansson (Grave/ex Dismember)

Vocals:  Gord Olson (Ye Goat-Herd Gods/Demisery)

Guitar:  Linus Nirbrant (A Canorous Quintet/ This Ending)

Guitar: Hempa Brynoflsson (Excruciate/Ordo Inferus)

The band has released one track via Bandcamp of the upcoming record entitled “The Burning” and you can access it here via Bandcamp. It is definitely indicative of the entire record, which generally is going to please fans of later Bolt Thrower and Memoriam.

The third track “1000 years” has such a great opening lick, reminiscent of Carcass and a bit of Cathedral – and then the keys and vocals kick in and really give the listener a gothic-inspired heaviness that, at the same time, has plenty of groove. Difficult to pull off this type of arrangement. Gord’s vocal is so incredibly powerful on this track as well and is mixed expertly. And I must say the riffs alone on this song are well worth the price of the LP.

“The Old Ones” is a slower, brooding, doom-inspired cut in the beginning that gradually moves uptempo and embraces the double bass and that deep, heavy riffing that is ever-so-present throughout the entire record. I also love the light cymbal work at the hands of Andy Whale about three minutes in.

Kingdom of Decay releases September 11, 2020 via Edged Circle Productions and can be ordered via their bandcamp page here.