Dark Age is a 5 piece from Hamburg, Germany and Acedia marks the band’s sixth full length release. I have to admit, I have never heard of them before, but thank God for labels such as AFM for bringing bands like this to the public’s attention. I cannot believe I have never heard of this band and they have been around since 1994. To be fair, to me and others, they didn’t release their first full length record until 1999. Dark Age is a mixed bag, combining elements of death metal and goth into one killer sound. Imagine Dark Tranquility mixed with a little Him with just a hint of the more melodic side of Killing Joke, and you would be close. This band has a killer way of blending the heavy sounds of melodic metal with the layered keyboard sounds prevalent in a lot of goth music. The vocals are a mix of growls with clean tones.
Acedia starts off with killer track Kingdom Nevercome, which is a mid-tempo melodic death metal rocker. It has a cool chord progression that reminds me of Dark Tranquility combined with the more modern sounds of In Flames. The song has a commercial vibe to it, but maintains it’s heaviness with the death vocals within the verses. The next track Devote Yourself To Nothing, brings in the more goth sound of the band. It starts off sounding a little like a Him tune, until the death vocals start. Like it’s predecessor, it is a really cool melodic tune layered with keyboards. The next track and probably my favorite is Neon Gardens. The tune is fueled by a killer riff combing melody with aggression. Vocalist Eike Freese does a nice job on this tune sounding like a pissed off Chester Benninigton (Linkin Park). Freese does a nice job on the whole CD mixing the death with the clean vocal style. The guy has a really versatile voice, and is able to change it to fit each tune. For example, in the tune Halo Meridian, Freese sounds like Killing Joke’s Jaz Coleman. The CD has a balanced variety containing a solid selection of well written tunes that will keep you listening from start to finish.




Bottom Line: A killer new release from a new/old band. I know many of us haven’t heard of these cats before, but Acedia will all make us believers. The songs combine killer heavy grooves with the melodic chorsues, which will get thy head banging. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, there is some killer ripping on this one to.
Standout Tracks: Neon Gardens, Kingdom Nevercome, Underneath These Burdens and Halo Meridian.
Ragman loves a great new old band.