Darkend - Viaticum
You have to dig deep to find quality Italian Extreme Metal, particularly Black Metal. It exists, particularly in the form of Handful of Hate, Aborym and Necrodeath, but Italy is one pocket of Europe that is not as abundant as Sweeden or Norway. Darkend are a hidden gem that is getting better and better with each album, and Viaticum is one of the best examples of Black Metal to be released in 2024.
Viaticum has an ancient and ghostly feel to it. It is as though the album was written and recorded in a tomb, and that tomb was closed and buried many years ago, and the ghosts of that album have broken free, and are haunting the multitudes of souls that are dancing on a cathedral grave above ground.
It is pleasing to be surprised by a band that has released multiple albums in a similar style. The most obvious cause of that is introducing new band members into the songwriting and recording process. That has occurred with Darkend, and the introduction of Acamur who had a small stint in the excellent and underrated Handful of Hate. Acamur plays the lead guitar on Viaticum, and you can hear the difference in the style of guitar playing compared to an album like Spiritual Resonance. His talents have been given room to breathe. Take for instance the opening song, “In My Multitude,” there is a guitar lead section that comes in at the 3:17 minute mark that splits the song open. It is the first of many WOW! moments across the album. Many of the lead sections and solos are a departure from Black Metal. They have a hard rock quality to them, which is surprisingly successful.
Darkend sound more free and unchained. Viaticum is not as outwardly aggressive as previous recordings, and a drop in pace allows the guitars and the bass to breathe more, and where there is that added space, the listener can grasp hold of certain sections, or whole songs, and almost scream along to them: "return to us!" The tremolos are still here, and it is unmistakably European Black Metal, but they pierce through more, creating a greater impression.
Darkend's albums are getting shorter. Their first two albums totalled 137 minutes combined, whereas Spiritual Resonance and Viaticum runs for 82 minutes combined. In itself, this does not mean anything unless the length of the albums are an indication of a change in songwriting and quality. And that brevity does indicate quality in the case of Viaticum - it is Darkend's best album. 41 minutes of Viaticum is more impactful than 137 minutes of early Darkend, and they were not bad albums at all. Darkend has stripped back a lot of the grand, epic orchestral and symphonic sections that led to longer storytelling and song structures across those albums. Those elements have not been lost on Darkend as Viaticum still has that as an ingredient (and long songs), but instead of orchestration being a staple ingredient, the keyboards are used as a condiment, and they are more subtle.
Vocally, the dynamic range is effective. The dichotomy of the gothic choir parts and the traditional Black Metal vocals works very well, and it sounds authentic. A lot of the time, contrasting vocals can be overdone, or overproduced to the point where they sound like backing tracks. On Viaticum, it genuinely sounds like these vocalists have been dug up from a grave, exhumed. Speaking of dirt and them bones, “De Masticatione Mortuorum In Tumulis” gets down and grungy in an Alice in Chains way - so cool! It was also very cool to hear the famous Oppenheimer quote back ending “An Ancient Plague Has Silently Worn Our Garments as its Throne.” You can interpret the themes of this album (the multitudes) coming as a result of self annihilation. “In My Multitude” and “In Your Multitude” are he immediate attractors and deservedly so. The latter being a 15-minute monster, although there is a 4-minute movie score like opening, which is incredibly sombre and moving.
Killer album from a killer band! Viaticum will end up in the top echelon of Black Metal releases in 2024. It has the perfect balance of a dark atmosphere, raw energy, exquisite performances, and memorable songwriting. Viaticum is straight into the Rolling Top Ten of 2024.