Darkest Hour

Some metal bands barely last 10 years, much less 15 years. If a band does get to the decade-and-a-half mark, they're usually sputtering out or are teetering on their last, diseased and ready-to-give out legs. Rare is the case where an aggressive band mutates, growing stronger, more unstoppable and more menacing with every passing riff, scream and album. Darkest Hour are such a case.

Darkest Hour are notorious for on-stage ferocity, taut guitar interplay and enraged vocals that outline the hypocrisy and casual brutality of politics and society. Their prior releases on Victory Records set benchmarks in the genre as the band embraced the DIY ethics of the hardcore scene and the technical skill of metal, galvanizing their own path and earning fans from both sides of the fence. While Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation (2003) attacked the duplicity of government, So Sedated, So Secure (2001) skewered organized religion and rampant commercialism. On Undoing Ruin, the latest chapter in the Darkest Hour story, themes of healing and moving forward are prevalent. "It's our fi rst album that isn't overtly political, though we did record "District Divided" which deals with the rapid gentrification in our hometown, Washington, D.C.," commented guitarist Mike Schleibaum, "The album is about change, personal and musical. The name, Undoing Ruin, fit the concept – it's about making life worth living again."