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BACK
DARKNESS
REMAINS
Black Sheep of the Family
By Adrian ‘The Energizer’ Bromley
A lot of bands out there nowadays are dabbling with
multiple genres of music with each and every release. Some bands
have the knack for keeping things intact and creating something
worth fawning over, while others’ musical creations turn into
a hideous pile of crap, a worthless token of ideas that never got
off the ground—or if they did, not very far.
Luckily Princeton, West Virginia natives Darkness Remains got their
shit together for Lamia, their debut offering on Tribunal Records.
Otherwise I’d be taking potshots at it left and right.
Says drummer/piano player Matthew Tote about the makeup of their
debut, "We all have a wide variety of influences ranging from
Death to King Crimson. Each of our tastes in music are very similar,
so it definitely comes out in our music. But when we write we do
not try to sound like something that we listen to. What we listen
to is more of an inspiration to us than something to go by when
we start writing our music."
As diverse as Tribunal Records is (a good mix of hardcore/metalcore
and nosiecore), Darkness Remains is indeed the black sheep of the
roster. How does it feel to be a part of a varied roster like Tribunal?
"Being on the Tribunal roster for us feels good, because it
is a label that gets our music out there for the people to listen
to. Tribunal is the perfect stepping stone for bands to get exposure
and helps them make something of their selves," he says. "Also,
if it weren’t for us being on Tribunal we wouldn’t be
doing this interview. The way we [the band is rounded out by guitarist/vocalist
Jon Fralick, bassist Curtis, and guitarist Mark Masri] got signed
is knowing the right people. A friend of ours was in a Tribunal
band called Bloodjinn and they had a show booked in our hometown.
We played the show with them and they liked what they heard so Bloodjinn
asked us if we wanted to play a festival in Winston-Salem, North
Carolina. So we played the festival and Matt Tribunal [label owner]
happened to be there. We gave him a demo and he liked what he heard.
We got the word that he wanted to sign us and we took his offer."
So I guess metal was indeed something he was out to pursue when
he signed the band? How would you describe your sound?
"We tend to take the progressive metal route," Tote replies.
"That has always seemed to be the best way to describe our
sound without getting too technical about it. We have never intended
to write 13-minute epic songs; it’s just what comes naturally.
We feel that a song should be as long as it takes to finish a concept.
The songs would feel incomplete any other way."
Reaction to the music found on Lamia has been good so far.
"We usually get good reactions out of people. Most of them
compliment the musicianship that we have and the technical elements
of our music. Some may say that our songs are too long and we tell
them if you don’t like it then don’t listen to it. When
our fans listen to us, we want them to feel like they have something
to look up to or become inspired by."
Any songs on Lamia that are your faves? Mine is "Lamia In Corinth."
"There isn’t really one song that we can say represents
us. Each song is a different emotion for us. We write each song
to our best ability, so narrowing ourselves down to one or two songs
isn’t possible. We are always going in different directions
with our music and always try to come up with new ideas."
The topic shifts to the studio work for Lamia, with the drummer
revealing, "Being in the studio was fun for us, other than
having to drive two and a half hours every time to go work on it.
The guy who recorded us [Jamie King] knew what he was doing and
he made our album sound great. Throughout the recording process
there were a few minor setbacks—mainly our guitars getting
messed up—but we fixed that. Other than that it was pretty
smooth going."
With a wide variety of ideas going on in each song, is it hard to
keep it all in control? Some would think it would be.
He answers, "It is sometimes, but for the most part it is pretty
smooth. When we write it is usually something that comes out then
and there on the spot, and we all have our own input on it. If one
guy doesn’t like something we talk about it until we either
decide to use it or not. Writing music is the best part of being
in this band because we never know what we are going to write, or
how it will end up sounding."
I must ask this question, seeing as Darkness Remains are a rather
young band: What do you think about the music industry with what
little you have seen up to this point? There are a lot of young
bands out there who want success right now, not willing to wait
for it to happen gradually.
"Well, for us being a young band, we really are not focused
on big success as of now," he says. "As for the music
industry, there are a lot of good bands out there that need to be
heard, and the whole ‘nu-metal’ craze that flows all over
the television and radio keeps a lot of good bands from being heard."
Change is indeed needed and with any luck, young acts like Darkness
Remains will make a difference. We can only hope.
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