Darkest Hour Perpetual | Terminal

It's hard not to give Darkest Hour a round of applause simply based on how long they've been around. They've been ripping their particular brand of driving, ripping melodic death metal heavily inspired by the mid 90's wave of now legendary Swedish death metal stalwarts such as At The Gates and In Flames for 20 plus years now, a literal eternity of time when it comes to extreme metal. In their formative years they were labeled as a metalcore band by both fans and detractors, and while there's certainly slight elements of hardcore and the DIY ethos of punk in their music, I've always considered them a metal band through and through. None the less, seminal albums from the band like the vicious Hidden Hands Of A Sadist Nation and epic and melodic Undoing Ruin (perhaps their most popular and celebrated record overall) have remained beloved by legions of fans of metal and hardcore worldwide.  

While later records from the band like The Human Romance from the mid 2010's focused heavily on the more melodic aspects of the band, they threw a pretty big curveball with their 2017 return record Godless Prophets & The Migrant Flora, which stood as maybe the hardest hitting and outright heaviest record the band had put out to date (Hidden Hands aside.). It was a welcome and unexpected surprise after the band had seemingly settled into a specific formula of catchy melodic metal, and turned the heads of both new listeners and old fans alike with it's caustic, chaotic nature.

Seven years from the start of this new era, the band have returned with their 10th full length Perpetual | Terminal which retains much of the last record's urgent nature and punch while also bringing back many of the huge and catchy melodic moments they became so well known for from the release of Undoing Ruin forward. 

The first indicator of this is it's opening title track, an almost 6 minute song that could have just as well served as the closing track of this record as much as it's opening statement. Playing hard into the strength the band has always had writing great melodic leads and driving, anthemic courses, it almost feels like a thesis of the band's entire career so far in the form of a song, as does the entire record itself. Follow up song “Societal Bile” is just as chaotic and crazy as anything from their earlier years, an absolute barn burner that shows Darkest Hour aren't content with just settling into one specific sound on this one. 

Meanwhile,  Midpoint song “One With The Void" throws another wrench into expectations with one of the most mid paced and melodic songs Darkest Hour have ever presented, featuring some truly excellent clean vocal passages that pair brilliantly with the songs heavily melodic guitar leads. This juxtaposition of shorter, heavier ragers that harken back to the band's early days coupled with the more epic, melodic moments in other songs is a hard balancing act to achieve thematically, but there's enough of both elements here to please any longtime fans who might be looking for a particular aspect of the band's sound. 

For me, it's always going to be the stage dive inducing songs, and luckily songs like “The Nihilist Undone” and “Love Is Fear” deliver these hard hitting heavy moments and then some. Once you get to acoustic intro of the epic closing song “Goddess of War, Give Me Something to Die For” everything comes full circle in a way where this record feels like both a late effort from a band renewed and a snapshot into their career as a whole.

This leads to a big takeaway from this record and the band in general: while there were countless American bands that borrowed more than just a little bit from the Swedish death metal movement from the early 2000' and onward, Darkest Hour have always been the top dogs of this side of the pond. As with any great metal band, it all comes down to the killer riffs and rhythm sections that they've consistently brought to the table. They've always had a knack for writing songs that are heavy as fuck, catchy and memorably anthemic, something many of their peers simply could never accomplish on the same level. 

While I personally feel they fell into a bit of a lull after Undoing Ruin, this record continues the renewed spark of creativity that seems to have hit the band on Migrant Flora, and it's a treat to see a band that's this deep into their career continue to push themselves forward with some of their most exciting material yet. While far from new territory for the band, it's clear they've got quite a ways to go before calling it.

Bottom Line: Perpetual | Terminal is a huge reminder of why Darkest Hour became such a talked about band in the metal scene in the first place, and the rare later record from a legacy band that still retains the creative spark and urgency of their earlier, beloved efforts while also pushing forward with bigger riffs, bigger choruses, and just overall bigger songs. If they're planning on dropping this much heat on later efforts, here's to another 20+ years.