It would be something of an exaggeration to suggest Darkest Hour are by any means an obscure band-they have been around for a decade-and-a-half in some form, released 6 albums, and done countless high-profile tours worldwide. However, I would argue that while not an unknown band, Darkest Hour are a largely underappreciated part of the modern melodic death/thrash scene. As one of the first American bands to fully embrace the Gothenburg melodic-death sound, DH were a good few years ahead of the rest of the pack, yet seemed to get caught-up-to and overtaken before they managed a solid foothold on the scene. Now there are many reasons you could attribute this to-Victory Records being balls at marketing non-emo bands, John Henry not being a particularly 'pretty' frontman, etc. My particular take, however, is simply this: Darkest Hour are way too fuckin' punk rock for most metal kids.
Example numero 1: Darkest Hour do not look much like a metal band. Sure, some (these days most) of them have long hair and tattoos, but fashionable these guys are not. They mostly resemble a bunch of scruffy dudes with varying degrees of beard-coverage, and that tends not to sit well with many of today's fashionista metalheads.
Example number 2: No singing. Ok, if you want to get picky, songs like 'Convalescence' and 'Demon(s)' have something approaching melodic singing in them, but we're not talking Howard Jones-style metal-opera here. Darkest hour keep it gritty and raw, whilst never falling back on cliched pig-squeals or death grunts.
Example number 3: Darkest Hour are Fucking Fast. Now, there are plenty of bands around these days with hyperspeed gravity blasting and magic-fingered swept arpeggios, but that doesn't count because I say so. Most of these tech-deathcore acts still can't resist grinding everything to a cock-blocking halt for a breakdown, and Darkest Hour country is chugga-slam free. More than anyone else I can think of, DH pick up momentum and stay at it, building thrash upon thrash into a thrashy thrash-house filled with thrash. Sure, they might pull back into a not-quite-thrash gallop, but only to give you a chance to pull your head from out of your ass, just so they can ram it back up there with more thrashy goodness.
I could continue, but I'm losing steam in trying to justify why Darkest Hour deserve more than they have recieved - they just fucking should, OK? At The Gates took 'em on tour, what more encouragement do you want?
p.s. Yes I am aware that this all seems a bit much considering I didn't even put them in my Top Ten Albums Of The Decade list, I swear 'Undoing Ruin' missed the cut by a fly's willy.
hahaha, you said willy
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