Darkseed – Poison Awaits (2010)

Ever since their classic “Midnight Solemnly Dance”, Darkseed has been on a constant quest of evolving as a band and has matured musically a great deal into how they sound now, on their latest album “Poison Awaits”. The band’s long time vocalist Stefan Hertrich decided to leave the band in 2006, and from what it looks the band was idle for two years until 2008, when Thomas Herrmann, Tom Gilche, Maurizio Guolo, and Armin Dörfler decided to get the Darkseed ball rolling again.

With ex-drummer Harald Winkler stepping up for singing duties, the band has managed to retain their traditional sound and we think that they actually improved over their previous releases. Harald’s vocals are very diverse and his deep clean sections are reminiscent of Lacrimas Profundere and similar Gothic Rock bands.

“Posion Awaits” starts with ‘Roads”, a very interesting opening song that sets the momentum for the whole album, with nice vocal lines, catchy riffing, and some electronic elements. The album doesn’t really pick up until the third song “Poison Awaits”, here there are plenty of Industrial elements that makes them sound like Pete Tagtgren’s Pain.

It’s very interesting to hear how Darkseed has managed to fuse Industrial Metal elements with Gothic Rock, and pulls it off graciously. The band’s combination of catchy electronic beats with powerful guitar riffing is top notch and will surely make people forget about the vocalist change just after two songs. With some similarities to EverEve, we can’t stop thinking how would Darkseed sound if they go a bit more aggressive (like EverEve did).

All songs in “Poison Awaits” are very well crafted and greatly vary in pace, creating a very comprehensive compendium of the band’s musical abilities. The slight keyboard highlights and electronic beats are very well mixed in the music and are very catchy in nature. The drumming does a great job at keeping thing well knit, and the bass guitar seems to have been drowned a bit too much in the mix, but is still noticeable at some points.

For almost 60 minutes of music, Darkseed delivers in every single aspect. The band has managed to overcome losing their vocalist and has come on top with a very catchy and powerful sound that we haven’t heard in quite a while. The new singer is actually pretty good at transferring emotions through his vocals.  If you like ‘slower pace’ Industrial Metal with no harsh screams and/or Gothic Metal/Rock, then you will completely love “Poison Awaits”.

Release: July 27th. 2010

Country: Germany