- Dark 3.11 (11:04)
- Dark 3:12 (10:40)
- Dark 3:13 (11:48)
- Dark 3:14 (11:01)
- Dark 3:15 (3:34)
- Dark 3:16 (14:09)
- Dark 3:17 (16:58)
Band: Darkspace
Lineup:
Zorgh - Bass, Vocals
Zhaaral - Guitars, Vocals
Wroth - Guitars, Vocals, Soundscapes, Drum Programming
Genre(s): Absolutely unique combination of space ambient and black metal, which can't be closed in any "generic drawer".
Album: Dark Space II
Lyrical theme(s): Personal thoughts about Space, Darkness, Cosmos Mysticysm
Country: Switzerland
Year: 2005
Type: Full Length
Label: Haunter of the Dark/Avantgarde Music
This masterpiece, Dark Space III, is dark, energetic, bleak, and chaotic. Even the packaging of the CD expresses the darkness it contains. You do not receive an elegant packaging or anything that seems remotely worth your money. Just a black piece of plastic with a black polycarbonate CD, which says “Dark Space III” on it. Plain and simple. The work is divided into 7 compositions, spanning about 80 minutes. It is one of the longer works found in the world of black metal. All sense of physicality, attraction, and beauty are lost, and made dull and bleak. The looks are very deceiving.
The album begins with a minute long introduction using vocal / keyboards (on Dark 3.11), giving you an initial sense of what to expect. You are undoubtedly in space at this point, and the mood is ominous yet so soothing. Your mind is calm. Now prepare yourself for a sonic blast of heavily distorted guitars, mach-2 drums, inaudible hellish shrieks, and the most amazing display of atmospheric black metal you have ever heard.
There are 2 sets of guitars playing throughout the album. The rhythm guitar holds a thick, undying, and heavily distorted tone, but nothing too unique to the genre. This is the backbone of the album, and plays amazingly well with Darkspace's non-typical riff structure. This guitar unleashes streams of heavy and simple riffs at different tempos and patterns, while never deviating too far from its usual tone. This is what gives the album its epic and grand feeling, and what makes it undeniably black metal.
Guitar number two is what really gives the Darkspace their unique signature, and it is really captivating when set on the background of the crushing riffs of the rhythm guitar. I really cannot describe it beyond what I just said, you will just have to hear it for yourself. The harmonies played with this guitar are just brilliant, and suit the theme of this album just perfectly. They are often very psychedelic, and give a sense of order to the chaos that encompasses it. It never stays too long. There is no guitar solo, just creative use of the guitar to add another layer of wonder. The bass guitar does something but I can't really tell what. Perhaps simply to add to the heaviness and depth. Whatever it adds to the composition, I'm sure the album wouldn't sound the same without it.
The drums are played in typical black metal / death metal fashion. They are very deep and heavy, with constant double bass. They are played very often in sync with the rhythm guitar, which is probably why this album sounds as heavy as it does. Cymbals are used as a tool to add to the chaos being brewed by the guitars. Again, as with the use of every instrument by Darkspace, the drums are not simply a tool used to keep a beat in the simple compositional sense. They are meant to create an atmosphere, and chart the rises, climaxes, and falls which you will hear throughout the album. You will find, if you listen carefully enough, that the drum's speed corresponds to whether each song is attempting to create a hectic, chaotic mood, or a deep, epic mood. Try to pick this up because the way each instrument is played is reflecting on what you are feeling.
In all honestly, lyrics don't matter here. If you can actually make out words being spoken, I will present you with the "sharpest, most amazing ears trophy". Here you have your typical black metal growls and shrieks, yet they are subdued beneath the instruments which mount over it. These add to the atmosphere of despair and chaos which are built by the layering of instruments described above. On certain tracks, the band has chosen to take excerpts from various sci-fi movie dialogues, which, as you can imagine, make the album even more epic. It also gives you a nice break to hear a human voice among the alien-like shrieking, and adds to the variation that is built into the album. Anyone listening to this album should really see the vocals as a mere instrument and not a vehicle used to convey a message like in most music. These instruments convey the message together. What that message is, is up to your imagination to decipher.
The keyboards: This album would be 20x less immense without them. They are constant, and undying like the blackness of space. This is what really gives Dark Space III the feeling of desperation, and awe. There is nothing fancy being done with them musically on the basic level, other than its very unique tone. The simplicity is what gives the album the another layer of depth, but that is not all. If you play attention, you will hear various spacey electronic sounds being sprinkled amidst each composition. The variation you will hear will astound you each time.
Now you’ve read the meat of my review, you should lock yourself in a dark room, and listen to one of my favorite tracks off the album: Dark 3.16. I feel this track encompasses the entire mood of the album, and sums up everything the band attempts to convey. There is an overwhelming sense of melancholy and urgency, yet it feels so calming. Your time is running out, yet you don't care. It is your last stand against some dark overwhelming force, and you've managed to go on long enough. The last 6 tracks have exhausted every last bit of energy and soul left within you, and it is time to pass slowly, and so you do once the track continues slowly into silence.
I really have to say that there is nothing really unique about the way Darkspace is playing their instruments. Most of it is typical to the black metal genre. Distorted guitars: Check. Heavy and fast drums: Check. Inaudible screams: Check. What makes it a masterpiece?
A) The structure of the music. They have managed to keep the listener interested at all points. There is constant variation in the grand 80 minute scheme of the album, and so much to focus on. Whether it is the psychedelic guitar harmonies, the epic rush of the guitars, the lively pounding of this massive drum set, or the deep layered use of electronic keyboards, they have found a way to weave a work that is constantly flowing. The moment you begin to understand one pattern in the song structure, it changes and throws you off again. They were even considerate enough to give your fragile ears a little break from the sound of infinity with track 5, which is purely ambient and requires very little of your brain power to hear.
B) They stuck to a constant theme. They have guidelines to work within, and this is what allows them to create such climactic, emotional, and epic music. The entire album is really one piece of music, and it keeps you drawn to what will come next. It is like a story, or a movie for your ears. Very few bands are creating music in such a manner these days, and if they do, it often tends to be boring. This is never the case with Darkspace.
This album will require multiple listens to fully appreciate. Like the best of wines, it will take time to work your taste buds and pick out the unique flavors and subtle variations throughout. You will pick out new details in the compositions with every listen, and again, like wine, it will only get better as it ages. Ideally, Dark Space III should be listened to in one sitting, as a single entity, and in the dark (preferably while looking at the stars and contemplating the deep meaning of life and our seeming insignificance). This is something you may have to get used to, as most people pick out their favorite 1 or 2 tracks, and ignore the rest of the album. If you don’t have 80 minutes to spend, even one track will definitely move you off your feet. This is a shaking album, which has never failed to motivate me when I’m feeling low, or make me shiver out of the energy it releases.
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