{"id":65984,"date":"2019-03-04T20:30:26","date_gmt":"2019-03-05T01:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=65984"},"modified":"2019-03-04T20:30:26","modified_gmt":"2019-03-05T01:30:26","slug":"darkwater-human-music-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2019\/darkwater-human-music-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Darkwater | Human"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Dan Skiba<\/span>
\n\u2014 Contributing Writer \u2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"Darkwater hails from Sweden (where all things Metal are good and understood), and Human<\/em> is their third studio record. The band plays true blue Progressive Metal \u2026 there\u2019s no blend of Progressive-Power, or Progressive-Death, or Progressive-Whatever to be found in this Human<\/em> release. Nope, Darkwater is a Progressive Metal band \u2026 and within the 76-minutes of music featured in Human<\/em>, they prove they can stand toe-to-toe with anyone in the sub-genre.<\/p>\n

If you like Dream Theater and Tool, you\u2019re in luck, because Darkwater is a well-crafted blend of both these heavy weights. Henrik Bath is an excellent vocalist (and presumably lyricist), and especially early on in the album, you\u2019d swear James LaBrie was manning the microphone. Other times the band delves into the realms of the progressively obscure, much like that of Tool. In the end, it works surprisingly well.<\/p>\n

As with most dedicated Progressive Metal bands, the musicianship is outstanding, the use and choice of instruments varied and creative, and the lyrics are deep and reflective. It\u2019s no surprise that this Human<\/em> album deals with the human condition \u2026 there\u2019s plenty of conflict, yearning, angst, hope, and so on. However, the lyrics are not what\u2019s going to hook you into this album. Rather, it\u2019s the precise sound engineering provided by Alternative Metal Mastermind Jacob Hansen, who\u2019s work with Volbeat and Everygrey is unprecedented. Good song writing is good song writing \u2026 but when you add instrumental crispness, heaviness with clarity, and profound atmospheric effects, a \u201cgood\u201d album can indeed become a true work of art. And, that\u2019s exactly what these Swedes have accomplished with their Human<\/em> album \u2013 the creation of Progressive Metal art.<\/p>\n

In a subgenre that has been showing signs of stagnation, Darkwater delivers in solid fashion. Like with most Progressive Metal albums the downside is periodic slow passages that can make you scratch your head and wonder why on earth they broke the momentum, but by and large this is an album that may find its way on many Progressive Metal fans\u2019 short list of \u201cgo to\u201d records.<\/p>\n

Genre: Progressive Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nHenrik Bath \u2013 Vocals
\nMarkus Sigfridsson \u2013 Guitars
\nSimon Andersson \u2013 Bass
\nMagnus Homberg \u2013 Keyboards
\nTobias Enbert \u2013 Drums<\/p>\n

Tracklisting:
\nA New Beginning
\nIn Front Of You
\nAlive (Part I)
\nAlive (Part II)
\nReflection Of A Mind
\nInsomnia
\nThe Journey
\nBurdens
\nTurning Pages
\nLight Of Dawn<\/p>\n

Label:
\nUlterium Records<\/p>\n

Online:
\nDarkwater.se<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: [usr 8 size=20]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Dan Skiba \u2014 Contributing Writer \u2014 Darkwater hails from Sweden (where all things Metal are good and understood), and Human is their third studio record. The band plays true blue Progressive Metal \u2026 there\u2019s […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":65985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[14902,14905,14903,14907,14906,14904],"class_list":{"0":"post-65984","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music-reviews","8":"tag-darkwater","9":"tag-henrik-bath","10":"tag-human-music-review","11":"tag-magnus-homberg","12":"tag-tobias-enbert","13":"tag-ulterium-records"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65984"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65984\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}