May 20, 2003 - Hidden Hands Of A Sadist Nation

A week after my last release and two years since "So Sedated, So Secure", Darkest Hour released their third album "Hidden Hands Of A Sadist Nation" on May 20, 2003. Darkest Hour are still playing the same style of melodic death metal but their original line-up suffers a couple casualties. Guitarist Fred Ziomek and bassist Billups Allen have both left the band and they are replaced by new guitarist Kris Norris and new bassist Paul Burnette. Let's see what the latest has to offer!

The album kicks off with "The Sadist Nation" and they dive right into a furiously fast and typical Darkest Hour riff with Ryan Parrish playing some super fast drums, Mike Schleibaum playing a super fast rhythm guitar riff, Norris adding some slower, epic lead guitar overtop and John Henry angrily barking along with some fast vocals in his usual heavy, but monotone voice. The guitars sync up nicely in the chorus and things are furiously rolling on through several fast rounds. Henry holds some nice long screams at some points and while this song definitely fits the Darkest Hour formula, it's a pretty epic and well-executed death metal song. Up next is "Pay Phones And Pills" and they jump right into another loud and heavy main riff, with Norris leading the way with a decently catchy stop-and-start guitar riff that is still plenty heavy. Super speedy drums, guitars and vocals all mean there's something happening at every moment, but they all take their turns in the spotlight with Parrish showing off at one point with a super fast and crazy set of drum fills and Norris gets a long opportunity that could've been solo time, but he still plays some fast snd solid stuff even though it's pretty standard and not flashy (standard for these guys at least). They break things down to a slower but still nice and heavy pace for the last minute-plus and this lengthy instrumental closing part sounds pretty cool. Track 3 is called "Oklahoma" and it's somehow even fast than the first two songs as both guitarists and Burnette are all strumming like madmen! It's insanely fast and pretty loud and heavy, and Parrish is somehow able to keep up with them with some insanely fast, yet still very precise drumming that is quite sweet. Henry alternates between fast screaming and holding some longer notes and everything sounds pretty awesome for a couple rounds. Then everything but one guitar stops as they nicely segue into a new part, but this new part is super short, and then it's right back to the main riff again. Don't get me wrong, the main riff I'd pretty sweet, but it was a bit of an awkward little shift. Otherwise a pretty great song! The next track is "Marching To The Killing Rhythm" and Norris leads the way with another fast and really cool lead guitar riff and the rest of the guys quickly fall in behind with a typical speedy rhythm section and Henry screaming another solid monotone verse. Yes, it's overall sound is very formulaic and repetitive, but as I love to say, it's another unique and pretty cool song that hits nice and hard. It's just relentless death metal for the whole four-plus minutes, and it's nonstop headbanging goodness! Track 5 is "The Misinformation Age" and we're right off into another typically fast-paced main riff with all the usual Darkest Hour hallmarks: speedy drums, some cool heavy guitars and Henry's heavy, monotone screaming quickly along. Words don't do proper justice when I say they jam along these lines for the whole five and a half minutes; there's a lot of cool music happening, including a brief guitar solo by Norris that spices things up nicely. Up next is "Seven Day Lie" and Norris plays a nice little intro by himself before they predictably segue into a formula-fitting main riff. If death metal isn't your thing, then a lot of this album will evoke the classic "all these songs sound the same!" moniker, but if you are into death metal then words can't properly describe yet another fast and heavy main riff that is different from all the others, but still has that speedy headbanging you expect from these guys and plenty of cool guitars and fast drum fills. It's another nearly five minutes of pretty sweet metal! Track 7 is the eight minute song "Accessible Losses" and it starts like most songs on this album; by firing right into a relentless and heavy main riff with Parrish going crazy on drums (as he seems to do every song) and both guitarists playing some cool stuff while Henry nicely, heavily barks overtop. The verse on this one is unbelievably fast and it makes the chorus seem slow, but it's pretty fast and solid as well! Four minutes go by and everything sounds typically great, then the mood dramatically shifts and quiets down. Schleibaum and Norris play different light guitar riffs that play off of each other very nicely and smoothly and Burnette keeps the pace with some slow bass in this quiet riff for a minute or so. Parrish's drums start to creep back in, and then they slam very progressively and nicely into a heavy headbanging new riff that somehow leads smoothly back into the chorus! Who knew they had such nice progressive vibes! The final 30 seconds are also in this lighter style as they epicly close out this long song. The next track is "The Patriot Virus" and they dive into another typical(ly heavy and cool) main riff that is instrumental for about a minute until Henry finally joins in with a typical verse. Eight songs into the album words are definitely still not doing proper justice as I could describe this song the same way (fitting the formula) but it's yet another unique and pretty cool song. The final song on the album is almost thirteen minutes long, and it's entirely instrumental! Both of these are atypical for Darkest Hour, but this closing track, named "Veritas, Aequitas" is one hell of an epic tune! They start with a slow but nice and heavy rhythm guitar riff that hits pretty damn hard while Norris plays some slow but epic lead guitar overtop. Parrish's drums are also slow and epic and they are really nailing this instrumental vibe! After a couple minutes they smoothly Segue into a cool new riff with some great drums by Parrish and a new, also epic guitar riff leading the way. After a couple of minutes this it's another nice transition to a softer riff where everything falls away but the two guitarists. Schleibaum plays a pretty cool acoustic rhythm guitar riff and Norris enters with a different acoustic guitar riff as they nicely play off each other for a little bit, then slam wonderfully into a loud and heavy new riff that continues the trend of epicness! They slowly jam out this part for a while, then everything stops and we hear some surprise piano take over! Not sure who's playing it but it's a short, and of course epic little bit of piano and it sets the stage for solo time! We're back to a nice heavy backdrop and Norris begins to solo for over a minute and he is just ripping it apart with some extremely awesome and epic stuff! This song is definitely not your usual Darkest Hour song, but in a rare instance I think the experimental track might be my favourite one on the album! What a fantastically done prepgressive, instrumental metal showcase! What a way to end the album!

That is the end of "Hidden Hands Of A Sadist Nation" and I thought it was a pretty good death metal album. John Henry's monotone voice can drag a little bit on this nearly hour long album, and as I said throughout the review, it's very formulaic. But when your formula is speedy, relentless and heavy metal, you can count me in and there was a lot of good music on this album. I think it's way better than their debut and although their last album "So Sedated, So Secure" was pretty solid as well, I think this latest effort is easily their best album yet. Can Darkest Hour keep ascending? I'll be here to find out!