“Undoing Ruin” is the follow-up to 2003’s “Hidden Hands of a
Sadist Nation”. Like before, Darkest Hour continue to play well executed metalcore
with a slight edge. The base of their sound may be metalcore, but the music
they play could easily fit the narrative that many melodic death bands or
deathcore bands aspire to achieve.
As mentioned, the music created on “Undoing Ruin” is not
your standard metalcore. The guitar work is, once again, very solid, serving as
the highlight of the album. Powerful riffs that have both a deathrash and
metalcore feel can be heard woven throughout the album. In addition, the
melodies created are catchy and well placed and easily keep the listeners foot
tapping. Like before, the drums play an important role in the overall makeup of
Darkest Hour’s sound. They are consistently pounding away and creating a layer
of sound just as important as the guitars. John Henry, aside from vocal duties
even plays a little additional drums himself on this album. The song writing,
in my mind, is a little better on this release, adding enough variety to the overall
sound to give the songs a more distinct sound.
That being said, the main critique that I had against
Darkest Hour’s “Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation” was that it needed a little
more variety to its overall sound, particularly in the vocal department. Now, I
enjoyed John Henry’s sound on “Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation”. I remember enjoying
his, perfect fit for metalcore vocals, but thought they could be so much more
if he tried. Unfortunately, the sound is pretty consistently metalcore throughout
just as it they were before, but I will say they work. Again, they don’t sound
bad at all and they fit the overall sound just fine, but with how much variation
is created throughout the music, I feel they miss the opportunity to do the
same with the vocals. It is what was it is.
Despite the lack of vocal variation, I felt “Undoing Ruin”
was a very nice follow-up to “Hidden Hand of a Sadist Nation”. This album will certainly
appease any metalcore fan and while the vocals may deter some more traditionalists,
I’d say give it a shot. You may find yourself enjoying It after all.
Highlights: “Sound the Surrender” “Convalescence” “With a
Thousand Words to Say But”
Rating: 3.5
