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Art of Darkness > Mind Suicide > Reviews
Art of Darkness - Mind Suicide

Death Metal from Italy????? - 86%

DeadFetus, September 26th, 2003

Death Metal from Italy? This has to be a joke right? Every Italian band I've ever heard of was some lame flowery, keyboard ridden, pansy fantasy band. Well, Art of Darkness crushes that stereotype and manage to crush eardrums just as well. This is traditional death metal done well, no frills, no lame attempts at "diversity." They stick to a successful formula for the whole album and it kicks ass.

Art of Darkness mold old school thrashy riffs a la Dark Angel and Slayer with the percussive intensity of the Floridian death metal scene of the early 90's and the crazy song structures of old At The Gates (Gardens of Grief era). It's like one of those fruit smoothie things that seem so popular now. Just throw a bunch of shit you like into a blender, and the finished product is healthy and enjoyable. Except this is death metal and you can't drink it. Anyways my point is this is some lethal shit so you'd best be prepared for a thrashing when you check it out.

As good as this album is, I do have a few complaints. First and foremost, the solos. I'm not a huge solo fan because too many metal bands seem to think that they are mandatory and throw them into random places in their songs where they just don't make sense. Art of Darkness is guilty of this - guys, every song doesn't need a solo, and furthermore every solo shouldn't sound the same. A little variety would be nice if you're going to force a solo out of every song.

Second complaint: melody lines, there are far to many here. Here's a tip, never use the same melody line twice on one album, much less twice in the same song. If these guys adhered to this rule then this album would have more balls and would easily be a 5 skull record. Other than those two complaints though, this is worthwhile death metal, most definitely worth your while.

Originally Published @ www.metaljudgment.com (c) 2003