In Darkness at Last

Ares Kingdom are like the definition of a cult band. They have their own specific sound, get overshadowed by other bands that don’t deserve it and of course there is a dedicated fan base. With In Darkness at Last they released their 5th album in pretty much 25 years. Taking forever to get to their 5th album is something cult bands do as well right? You could think about all the other elements going on with Ares Kingdom but frankly there is always one real question for any new metal album. Do they riff hard on their new album?

The answer is a whole sounding yes, in fact In Darkness at Last is a total ripper. This shouldn’t surprise long time fans of the band like I am but okay I have to admit I was caught a little off guard. Before they released this album I Thought that they were on a slight downward slope ever since the incredible Incendiary from 2010. Incendiary, their 2nd album, was an absolute beast of a thrash/heavy metal meets death metal album.

They changed their sound a bit with their 4th album, with it went they went with a sound that was closer to a different older project of Chuck the guitarist. Ares Kingdom album had a fairly broad palette rooted in 80’s metal but they broadened the horizon even more and added some black metal to the mix. This resulted in a good album but it still was their worst so far. When they released this 4th album of theirs, I thought that they were just slowly winding down as all bands do over time.

With In Darkness at Last Ares Kingdom kept this re-centering of their style but tweaked it by going back even further and they now brought forth some Order from Chaosisms. Yes this album sounds more like Order from Chaos than all the other Ares Kingdom albums. As with album number 4 they still kept the intellectual heavy metal approach which makes Ares Kingdom the better of these 2 bands. However I don’t think this adjustment is what makes this album a step up quality wise, Instead it just boils down to better riffs and better songwriting. No matter how many different elements a band combines to create their own sound, at the end of the day those 2 things are what determine by far most of the quality of a bands work. This is coupled with a near ideal sound(something could be said about the sound of the kicks) and we thus In Darkness at Last is their best since Incendiary.

Will In Darkness at Last finally lead to Ares Kingdom becoming a real household name? I don’t think so. As catchy and well written as this (once again) album is, they still play a rather niche style of metalheads metal that just doesn’t really have a broad appeal. What they however did manage is further solidify their candidacy of being the prime example of a cult band in extreme metal is all about.