Darkology
Fated to Burn
Prime Eon Media
2015
I still remember how the band’s debut “Altered Reflections” caught us all off guard in 2009 when it came out. Darkology appeared out of nowhere, having a super line-up and took the metal community by surprise. Still they didn’t have the support of the (paid) media and their astounding debut album stayed under the radar of many metalheads. I consider “Altered Reflections” to be one of the top 3 (if not the best) heavy prog metal album of the 00s. And I’m not exaggerating at all!
It took Darkology almost 6 years to come up with the successor of “Altered Reflections”. Unfortunately, the band didn’t quite meet the success it deserved with its debut release but I guess that’s never late for one of the top acts of our time. I was fortunate enough to have heard some rough demos of the tracks, which made it to the second album; I can tell that they were great as rough demos and they became even greater afterwards. The band does not stay on safe waters – after all, the mastermind, composer & guitarist Michael Harris is a true “master musician” with the actual term of the word and he cannot help but evolve every single moment. Moreover, he is one of the criminally “underrated” guitarists of our time… still haven’t figured out why!
This time the band worked together on the songwriting part. The “bulldozer” bassist Mike Neal contributed to the lyrical part a lot. Kelly Sundown Carpenter contributed to the vocal lines too. Given the chance, I’ve called Kelly the “Metal God” of our time on the debut review and still I believe that he’s second to none – as we speak. Kelly is a true gifted vocalist who can easily sing anything you can think of. If you listen to Kelly’s performances in this album you’ll get my point right away. Kelly has raised the bar a lot higher with his performances and the tracks wouldn’t have been the same without him behind the mic. Lastly, I must also refer to the beast-drummer and Michael’s brother, Brian Harris. Brian is the one who gives the power, the “brutality” and the heaviness on the band. His performances are truly impressive.
Now, I could easily go on a track by track analysis but honestly there’s no point in doing such a thing. You’d better listen to each track thoroughly and draw your own conclusions. After all, that what music is all about. Darkology, as their name declares, are dark, heavy and totally metallic. This ain’t just US power metal music… it’s that but it’s also something more complex & technical for the average listener. I’d like to call Darkology’s music heavy prog metal. The good thing with such albums is that they get better and better with every listen. Michael Harris is a talented songwriter who likes to push his limits further & challenge himself with every new album of each band he participates in.
“Fated to Burn” was produced & mixed by the legendary & Grammy nominated Chris Tsangarides and it is a tad more straightforward than “Altered Reflections”. Darkology have their own character, vision and sound for their music. They may remind you of some big bands of the past but Darkology have their own way of doing things and they do not want to be “those” bands cuz they simply are Darkology and they gotta succeed for what they are, not for what they should, could or would have been if… blah blah blah.
The bottom line is that “Fated to Burn” is already a candidate for the album of the year. It’s another astounding release by a band which should and will grow much bigger in the next time… the prog followers know that already… it’s time for the big metal mass to get it too…
It took Darkology almost 6 years to come up with the successor of “Altered Reflections”. Unfortunately, the band didn’t quite meet the success it deserved with its debut release but I guess that’s never late for one of the top acts of our time. I was fortunate enough to have heard some rough demos of the tracks, which made it to the second album; I can tell that they were great as rough demos and they became even greater afterwards. The band does not stay on safe waters – after all, the mastermind, composer & guitarist Michael Harris is a true “master musician” with the actual term of the word and he cannot help but evolve every single moment. Moreover, he is one of the criminally “underrated” guitarists of our time… still haven’t figured out why!
This time the band worked together on the songwriting part. The “bulldozer” bassist Mike Neal contributed to the lyrical part a lot. Kelly Sundown Carpenter contributed to the vocal lines too. Given the chance, I’ve called Kelly the “Metal God” of our time on the debut review and still I believe that he’s second to none – as we speak. Kelly is a true gifted vocalist who can easily sing anything you can think of. If you listen to Kelly’s performances in this album you’ll get my point right away. Kelly has raised the bar a lot higher with his performances and the tracks wouldn’t have been the same without him behind the mic. Lastly, I must also refer to the beast-drummer and Michael’s brother, Brian Harris. Brian is the one who gives the power, the “brutality” and the heaviness on the band. His performances are truly impressive.
Now, I could easily go on a track by track analysis but honestly there’s no point in doing such a thing. You’d better listen to each track thoroughly and draw your own conclusions. After all, that what music is all about. Darkology, as their name declares, are dark, heavy and totally metallic. This ain’t just US power metal music… it’s that but it’s also something more complex & technical for the average listener. I’d like to call Darkology’s music heavy prog metal. The good thing with such albums is that they get better and better with every listen. Michael Harris is a talented songwriter who likes to push his limits further & challenge himself with every new album of each band he participates in.
“Fated to Burn” was produced & mixed by the legendary & Grammy nominated Chris Tsangarides and it is a tad more straightforward than “Altered Reflections”. Darkology have their own character, vision and sound for their music. They may remind you of some big bands of the past but Darkology have their own way of doing things and they do not want to be “those” bands cuz they simply are Darkology and they gotta succeed for what they are, not for what they should, could or would have been if… blah blah blah.
The bottom line is that “Fated to Burn” is already a candidate for the album of the year. It’s another astounding release by a band which should and will grow much bigger in the next time… the prog followers know that already… it’s time for the big metal mass to get it too…