Dark Space III I

When it comes to talk about straight atmospheric black metal we can think about numerous projects, but there’s one which instantly arises to our top 3 regarding influence, power and mysticism. One of those high institutions are the Swiss black metallers Darkspace who’ve struck the scene back in 2002 with their debut “Dark Space I”. Six years after the praised “Dark Space III” – time that was used for Zhaaral’s Sun Of The Blind or Wroth’s Paysage d’Hiver – this power trio is back with “Dark Space III I” which was released via Avantgarde Music.

The album begins with an ambient and noise soundscape like some kind of a spatial design or even like a battle due to the laser shots that are heard until an unconventional drumming beat breaks the sounds and the track itself will be headed by a lead melodic guitar. Known by their musical structures of extreme density creating extensive and bombastic walls of sound, Darkspace end up to include slower passages which puts us back on Earth in a lasting pace just to simply overwhelm our senses with a sonic speed over roaring vocals and simple lines of melodic guitars which make all the difference when applied.

As expected, keyboards eventually appear giving the spatial atmosphere a touch of symphony, but nothing too exaggerated… It’s just there to change the constant and thick mist that was previously formed. There are also dark ambient moments which mingle between earthly resonances, machinery and cosmic space working as interludes within the tracks themselves. Even so, the songs don’t feed up only by those characteristics since, in the track “Dark 4.19”, some electronic elements are incorporated to be identically played by a lead guitar accompanied by the double pedals of the drums.

If there was any intuition to create beauty, even though a dark one, the last song “Dark 4.20” is a complete devastation in its initial minutes uplifting all the aggressiveness and violence of the dark space that’s the band itself. However – and more evident than before – the hypnosis that’s brought to light by enigmatic sounds is gathered with a distorted guitar that marks the pace. Even if the bleakness is reached with the ultimate song, Darkspace won’t leave their epic route that’s personified by some guitar shredding that’s heard above the atmospheric blow generated by the rest of the organic instruments.

In sum, “Dark Space III I” is not a record to have in the car or to be played while doing other stuff. This album, like the others in Darkspace’s discography, is an opus to be listened quietly sat in a chair or lie down in bed with low lights letting ourselves be lifted to the cosmic infinite of our universe.

Originally written at www.againstmagazine.com