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Demonic Resurrection > A Darkness Descends > Reviews
Demonic Resurrection - A Darkness Descends

india blows - 32%

Noktorn, January 13th, 2011

I think this gets the award as the most incoherent and dumb record in my collection. I have an Anal Cunt CD, you know. Plenty of noisecore. None of it, though manages to match up to this in how randomly everything manages to proceed. Demonic Resurrection may be the first metal band I've seen to attempt to emulate every musical idea in metal (and some not from metal) on a single album and fail at literally all of them. This is so bad. The band should throw themselves on a funeral pyre for their disgrace or something.

I really don't know where to begin with the band's sound because if I just mention a musical idea, it's somewhere on this album. I suppose what this mostly sounds like is early Cradle Of Filth with a harder, modern black/death edge, but then there's the obvious power/prog influences complete with clean vocals, the thrashy passages, the folk bits and carnival music (?) moments. As I said, literally everything is thrown into this album- half the time, into single tracks- meaning that this album literally has no coherent statement to make. Individual songs can't even decide what they want to be, what makes you think the album will be any better?

A song might proceed like this: open with a melodramatic, gothy keyboard line. Hop into a Marduk-meets-Cradle blast section with shrieks, then abruptly shift into a power/thrash section that could come out of early Iced Earth and alternate between that and the black metal for the duration of the song while sprinkling it with clean guitar passages and the occasional heavily symphonic bit. This would be an instance of a coherent, logical song on the album; most of them are for more bizarre and clumsily constructed. I'm not going to say that all these ideas couldn't necessarily be synthesized into something good (though I doubt it), but Demonic Resurrection doesn't synthesize so much as throw all the parts of a song into a bucket and pray to god it somehow works out on its own.

It fucking doesn't! Songs need direction, structure, a flow of ideas, and the tracks on 'A Darkness Descends' have none of that. There's a ton of ideas but they're all generic, cliche-ridden things that almost seem like jokes at first until you realize this band is actually playing it straight. Nothing about this has its own personality, just the cast off bits of personality from other bands- it's clear when the band is trying to write a riff that sounds like Cradle Of Filth, or one that sounds like Dark Funeral, or one that sounds like Blind Guardian, because the band has no ideas of their own- they think if they have enough ideas, it will cover up how nothing's going on, but it just draws more attention to it in reality.

People are pretty dumb if they like this, one of the most transparently creatively barren releases I've ever heard. A ton goes on but nothing happens. This fucking sucks.

Subcontinental Surreality - 92%

metal_militant, March 6th, 2009

A cymbal sounds, the resonance only to be cut short by a haunting set of chimes played against a dark, orchestral atmosphere. The tune could send a chill down the spine of those who least expected it. A dark power is rising, his legions are marching towards civilization, the obliteration of mankind is no longer a distant nightmare...

Though the above mentioned dark power may not be real, the force that is bringing us that apocalyptic soundtrack definitely is. Prepare to welcome the monoliths of Indian metal, Demonic Resurrection. This album is probably one of the best examples of sticking to your guns in times of great adversity, because it definitely was no joyride for this band from the start. What started out as a nearly failed project due to the close-mindedness of some people has now thrown it RIGHT back into the faces of those who were passing this band off as a joke. 'A Darkness Descends' never for once gives you the impression that its only a band's second release and their first major one at any rate.

The tune I spoke about (called 'Prelude to Darkness') sets the tone running just right for the next song 'Dreams of the Dead', a song slightly oriented towards death metal with a traditional 5/4 minor sludge battery. This is what Demonic Resurrection do best; not for once letting you relax into the idea that the band plays just one style of music. The song quickly enter black metal mode with haunting keys and dual 'demonic' vocals. The song that follows it is the uncanny 'Apocalyptic Dawn', now famous enough thanks to its inclusion on the 'Global Metal' soundtrack. And for good reason. The song starts with a symphonic arpeggio that gives way to a beautiful solo-laden power metal section which soon becomes a symphonic black metal barrage and then back to a power metal style portion but with death growls. The song has various such soundscapes, some dark and sinister and some almost romantic. Its a trait that is found throughout the album. The next song 'Behind the Mask of God' tackles the issue of religion, a deviation from the fantastical lyrical themes found on the preceding songs. The song after is one innovatively written piece called 'Carnival of Depravity'. The song starts totally unexpectedly with an accordian-based fanfare. The tune almost makes you flip through the CD sleeve to ensure that its not a 'Mera Naam Joker' cover. But the second that all the fanfare dies down to be replaced by a spooky piano riff, one is reassured of what he is listening to. The rest of the song is a dark melange of black and death metal. The next song is another crowd favourite in India, 'Spirits of the Mystic Mountains', a song that starts with an almost magical flute intro that plays scenes from 'The Fellowship of the Ring' in the listener's head. The whole song has a very power metal feel to it, especially the chorus section sung clean.

'Where Shadows Lie' is a tribute to the global metal community's favourite author J.R.R Tolkien. This album is full of such tributes, right from the fantasy-themed power metal sections to the eternal black metal inquisition of god and Jesus Christ. The song that follows is the title track, an almost all-out power metal song complete with the 'lone rider' theme. The fact that impresses me among others about this album is the homogeneity of the songwriting. Having claimed to start their own brand of metal called 'Demonic Metal' (a mix of black, death and power metal), the band has consistently delivered songs where the 3 genres just gel together like ingredients of a cocktail to create a fresh new sound. There isn't a moment where one feels that a new song has started within a particular song just so that the band can somehow stuff all those different genres into a piece. One classic example of this is 'Frozen Portrait'. The song has almost the PERFECT intro tune played on warm strings with a cool keyboard atmosphere; a tune that has the right quantities of romanticism, mystery and the supernatural, amde even more special with the cleanly sung vocal hook. A tune that gives way to a blistering onslaught of an overdriven tune that reeks of epic. The various portions in the rest of the song just make the whole experience of listening to this song magical.

Now, this album is good, but its not perfect. There are a few low points, like the vocals. The cleanly sung parts a rewell executed, but the death growls just don't hit the mark. But since this is a 2005 album, I have seen the band live enought times after that to assure you that this drawback has been worked on. Also, the snare volume needs to reduce. Its not as irritating as its counterpart on Metallica's 'St. Anger', but it can be improved.

The penultimate song 'The Summoning' is more of a straightforward black metal track that explodes into your ears but with a bit of an unconventional time signature. And as with other songs, it does not stay black metal throughout but keeps gving the listener more to look forward to. And then, like all other good things in this world, this album also has to come to an end. 'Overture to Glory' is a victorious instrumental piece, signifying the victory of civilization over the darkness that had descended. At the same, also reminding us that darkness never ends, it just recedes for some time only to return again. And as long as darkness continues to return, so I'm sure will the force that has only just begun to rise. A force by the name of Demonic Resurrection.

Original and good - 80%

Koolacc, October 10th, 2007

Demonic Resurrection are the first Indian band, that I ever listened to and the first contact with them was really great(read: it sat me down on my ass). I'm talking now about the song Apocalyptic Dawn, a song which I heard on one of the www.metalstorm.ee compilations. I couldn't do anything else than get my hands on the album.

Fortunately it did live up to my expectations, however after some time the initial excitement faded, but it still is a high quality album. Demonic Resurrection combine in their music quite a couple of genres (you can find them up on the page) and the result is excellent. Deathmetal shreds, powermetal riffs, growls and “normal” vocals – everything is here and mostly it's all really good. Already mentioned Apocalyptic Dawn, Spirits Of The Mystic Mountains, A Darkness Descends and Frozen Portrait (especially this one) are songs that will stay in your head for a long time and you will have to listen to them until they lose their charm (which will take a while :-) hasn't happened to me yet). The rest of the album is still quite varied, but not as catchy (despite that it's not boring at all). Fast tempos and keyboards dominate.

We are dealing with a truly original piece of music here. It really is worth of listening to and since this is the first regular album of the band, I can§t wait for the next release.

Written for http://www.metalzone.info

Mind-Blowing Demonic Metal - 97%

Ashtoreth, May 18th, 2006

‘A Darkness Descends’ comprises of 12 tracks that have surely done Mumbai-based Demonic Resurrection proud. With their unique blend of aggressive, melodic, power metal and Behemoth-like vocals, Demonic Resurrection have carved a niche for themselves in the Indian underground extreme metal scene.
Nearly 5 years in the making, ADD is a must-listen not only because it is an excellent set of songs, but also because the final mix is pristine - every instrument can be clearly heard, while simultaneously blending together without the album sounding over-produced.

There are so many CDs that get by on one or two fantastic songs.. ADD has three - Frozen Portrait, Apocalyptic Dawn and The Summoning are nothing short of orgasmic.
Carnival of Depravity begins with an eerie gypsy solo; Where Shadows Lie is very well-structured; Invoking the Demons starts out slow and then really picks up pace after about two mins, while A Darkness Descends and Spirits Of The Mystic Mountains define fantastic riffs.
Going by this album, DR has really hit their stride and they're only getting better with time.

The only thing that didn't quite do it for me were the female vocals, but they were few and far between, so ADD gets a 97% for creative genius and much talent.

Demonic Metal from the Indian Metal underground .. - 90%

irahghaul, April 11th, 2006

'A Darkness Descends' is the second full-length release from the Demonic Resurrection stable. This release has come after a long time spent by the Demonstealer in stabilizing the band with a new line-up following several changes after the release of Demonic Resurrection's first full-length album 'Demonstealer' in 2000.

From a symphonic black sound in the first release, the band now has evolved its a sound to a more symphonic black/melodic death/power metal kind of sound. To simply put it as the Demonstealer likes it to be called - 'Demonic Metal'.

'A Darkness Descends' can easily be termed as the most eagerly awaited release in the history of Indian extreme metal. It was in the making for almost a year, and when it was finally released, most of the fans were already well-acquainted with some of the songs from the album. The reason for such popularity was extreme marketing and several powerful live show performances with sets concentrating on originals (which is a rarity in the Indian metal scene).

The album starts with the instrumental 'A Prelude To Darkness'. This is followed by the surreal 'Dreams of the Dead' and 'Apocalyptic Dawn'. 'Apocalyptic Dawn' was featured on the Metalstorm compilation and is currently a rage across India. 'Behind The Mask of God' which combines brutal vocals with captivating melodies was one of the first songs to be performed live from this album by 'Demonic Resurrection'.

'Spirits of the Mystic Mountains', 'Where Shadows Lie' and 'A Darkness Descends' form the heart of the album. Powerful vocals, enchanting riffs and haunting keyboards characterize these 3 songs.

'Frozen Portrait' has become sort of an anthem in the Indian underground and the count of people who can claim to not recognize the song is almost nil. A soft intro with blissful vocals that kicks-off 'Frozen Portrait' is absolutely wonderful. This soon transforms into heavy riffing and melodic keyboards, which is a Demonic Resurrection trademark. The album concludes with 'Overture to Glory'.

The album is a masterpiece but 'Carnival of Depravity', 'Invoking the Demons' and 'The Summoning' can best be described as average just because they don't live up to the standards set by songs like 'Frozen Portrait' and 'Dreams of the Dead'. But in all, it is a superb effort.

Things to watch out for in this album are the keyboard wizardry of Mephisto and the turbo-charged melodic drumming of JP. Demonstealer's vocals are truly awe-inspiring. Especially in 'Frozen Portrait' where he combines angelic singing and demonic growls with total ease.

'A Darkness Descends' is a laudable effort and a must have for fans of melodic/symphonic metal. I am sure there is more to come in the future from 'Demonic Resurrection' who have come from the underdogs status to being the torch-bearers of the Indian Metal underground. Kudos to the Demonstealer for all the hardwork and effort he has put in into elevating the position of 'Demonic Resurrection' from a line-up shuffling outfit to a major headline band. This album rightfully represents the vast potential that lies in the Indian metal underground.

Hats Off !!