The term 'alternative metal' can be interpreted a variety of ways as the connotation has developed into a broad array. Styles ranging from industrial to goth are included in the large umbrella span of the genre, but most of all, the alt scene is best to serve as a crossover from hard rock to the deeper side of metal. As metalheads, we may not all favor the simplicity and accessibility in the genre, but deep down inside we can sheepishly admit that the artists from the genre were a necessity to bridge the gap into the territory of more extremes.
In the case of Darke Complex, their placement in the army of alternative is a result of nü-metal and metalcore blended together. Gaining a slight following from last year's EP titled Widow, they have followed up with a full-length debut, Point Oblivion, via Spinefarm Records.
So let's start with the apparent singles, "Dead to Me" and "Void." Simple riffs and infectious vocal repetition make for decent attention-catching tracks. Granted, that would apply to a niche group as the tones and structure in these compositions swerve very close to Korn and Linkin Park. The inclusion of hip hop, industrial, and metalcore demonstrate that Darke Complex are more than your average alternative metal group nowadays, but I do have my concerns in that these songs would have been seen with far more success in the late 90's. At the core, they hold strong songwriting and hooks as first impression singles. I'm unsure of their plan for future promotion, but in my personal opinion, "Detox" would be the best next choice with such a solid melody.
The remaining ten tracks swing back and forth in quality and can be mostly noted for three key elements: clean vocals, synths, and rapping. A track like "Nothing Within" shows a satisfactory amount of heaviness, however the clean vocals bring me back to the wave of hard radio rock that I'd prefer to forget. The use of synth also varies in beneficial degrees. On "One of Us," the repeating electronic patterns were an interesting addition to the song, but on the aforementioned single, "Void," the overly distorted synth line was total Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory pandering. For variety sake, I have to give some credit where credit is due. The rapping segments on this record are quite sublime. "Marking Targets" or "Cold Blooded" are prime examples of the smooth delivery.
On a side note that was inevitable, the band seems to be pushing the visual and persona aspect pretty hard. And to be personally honest, I don't have any major qualms with a band altering their appearance. If you're an artist, you have the right to do whatever you want with your looks. But here's the catch, in our current musical climate, the community will almost always label a group with costumes, masks, etc. as a gimmick. Such an act may have worked in the 90's because the culture allowed and even embraced it, but now it is viewed as riding the wave of a previous decade's success, especially when the music is very similar.
I don't necessarily think this is a bad album, but rather I can assume this band's genre won't be welcomed with open arms in today's standards. As we have seen in the past five years, a resurgence of the nü–metal scene with Islander, Issues, Emmure, and King 810 (the list goes on…) has been met with an equal amount of both popularity and backlash. Even the nü-metal pioneer bands like Korn and Slipknot are still alive and kicking regarding releases and touring. So, in that case I could see this group potentially working its way up the ladder if, and only if, they pull together a tight live performance and hop on as a supporting act for someone big. If based purely on the strength of the music, the score of this review may be a tad higher, but as I spoke of before, the blatant nü-metal nostalgia and unnecessary costume gimmick reduces credibility. Although I'm not completely sold, Point Oblivion shows promise and I'll keep my radar out for these guys.
6.5/10
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