Alright, let’s just get this out there for everyone: This band is composed of some SERIOUS rippers. The musical talent here is operating on a VERY high level. The guitarists are full-time shredding throughout all six of these tracks, and every other instrument paired keeps up without missing a beat.
“From Trust To Conformity” is the title of the new EP from Darko. The release is stacked with six tracks that all do a pretty good job of keeping the bands signature “high-octane” approach very much in tact. I couldn’t help but think the entire time I was listening to this EP: “These guys have got to kick some serious ass live.”
I really don’t have anything negative to say about any of these tracks from a production / arrangement standpoint. All of these songs instrumentally sound like they’re very well thought out and put together with surgical precision. Everyone’s playing in the pocket they should be, and everyone is helping the beat move along.
On paper, this should be my new favorite release, but it’s just not. Unfortunately one of the first things I thought when I listened to this album was “After I’m done with this, I’m going to put on some Wilhelm Scream.” I shouldn’t think that, right? I should be thinking “After I’m done with this, I’m going to listen to it again.” I suspect the vocal approach could be a bit of the reason behind this.
The vocals aren’t bad, not by any means, but they’re all too familiar. The singer has a few different gears he goes into here, some of those gears really remind me (almost too much) of some other bands. I know at this point gang vocals are just kind of commonplace with this style of music, but something about the execution of them feels a little bit like old hat. I think that’s to be said for a few of the dynamics offered vocally.
I normally do a track by track (ish) style of reviewing, but for this release I don’t think it’s really necessary. If you like the aggressive, fast paced technical style offered by this band, you WILL like this release. I think the only track that falls a bit short as a collection piece is the title track, the last song “From Trust To Conformity.” It sounds a bit like the band embraces some of their desire to want to mix it up style-wise, and it just doesn’t really translate into a strong showing to me. The repeating vocal at the end is a bit grading, I could have done without.
When I do these reviews, I normally delete the songs from the album I know I’ll never listen to again. Having said that: I’m going to keep these songs in my library, I just don’t think they’re going to be showing up in my “Top Hits” anytime soon. Darko is a band I’m eager to keep an eye on, and optimistic about listening to moving forward. For those of you who may be really die-hard about this genre-style, don’t think twice about grabbing this EP.
3/5