adg211288 Severance (2014) is the second full-length studio album by Northern Irish metal act Darkest Era. It's been a few years now since the band made their debut with The Last Caress of Light (2011) and since that time the band has had a couple of personnel changes with Daniel O'Toole replacing David Lindsay on bass and Cameron Åhslund-Glass replacing Lisa Howe on drums. The band has also found a new home for their music in Italian label Cruz del Sur Music, having previously been with Metal Blade Records.

While Darkest Era seem to be always hyped up as folk metal act my own experience with The Last Caress of Light was that it was much more the traditional heavy metal affair, albeit an atypical one. The group had some quasi-folk ideas certainly and one song was obviously a folk song (not folk metal), but the record hardly belonged on the same page as the work of artists like Cruachan, Аркона or Eluveitie. The same is true of Severance; there is a subtle folk presence in the music (with the occasional more overt bit such as the acoustic guitar melody that opens the album) but to call Darkest Era a folk metal act because of it is rather overstating the impact the folk element has on their music. But is this one more of a heavy metal record like The Last Caress of Light or something else entirely? Well that's actually a tricky question to answer.

Deep down I suppose the backbone of the music on Severance is still traditional heavy metal but this is actually quite a different sounding album to The Last Caress of Light, which I've always felt comfortable calling a heavy metal album with folk influences. This one isn't so easy to pigeonhole because aside from the folksy heavy metal vibes there are more elements going into the music. The most obvious element that I hear in the music is actually power metal, which is a genre that I did not detect a presence of on the previous album, but is undoubtedly here in the form of fast paced riffs which show up quite prominently in tracks like Sorrow's Boundless Realm and The Scavenger, but always alongside some other elements. There are some elements of power metal in other songs as well, but would I call Severance a power metal album? Not really, but it is definitely music primarily driven by riffs.

Elsewhere the guitars have a rawer and more atmospheric sound that is more akin to black metal than any other type of metal, except that vocalist Krum sings one hundred percent cleanly. So it's not a black metal record either. Blackened maybe, but blackened what? Yet more of the music has more in common with doom metal than anything but by comparison with the power metal, blackened vibes and even the subtle folk influences come across as a minority element, primarily showing up at the start of The Serpent and the Shadow. Like their debut it certainly isn't folk metal (though I do admit those subtle folk vibes are quite common, maybe the most common element) but the overall vibe doesn't really fit as heavy metal either despite the riffs. On The Last Caress of Light yes, but as I said, Severance is quite a different sounding album. I could actually run off every known metal genre here and still come up blank trying to pigeonhole Severance.

Except of course, the obvious: it is metal. In many ways it's simpler to just say metal and leave it at that without any specifics, as that's the only thing you can say with a certainly about the album, even though having thought about it saying that it's blackened folksy heavy metal with influences of power metal isn't wrong if you do want to go into detail, except to me that sounds a bit too longwinded. But it is that or just metal. Take your pick on what you think suits it best.

Perhaps it's a good thing that this album has given me so much trouble to accurately describe. That makes it a rarity; most music is quite easy to tag and is also quite easy to find a similar artist to compare to. Severance however is one of those special albums that is standing proudly alone.

This review has come this far and I haven't actually even begin to say if this music is actually any good or not. Well it certainly is. Whatever you ultimately want to call the music on Severance it's clear to me that Darkest Era have improved a lot as a band in the time between albums. Their song writing is now much more condensed with the songs on Severance being, in general, between the four and six minute marks rather than the six to eight of The Last Caress of Light, though there is still one longer one in the form of the album closer Blood, Sand and Stone. While I did not really have a problem with the longer track lengths on the previous album the more condensed feeling on Severance does help its songs flow even better and I think that's pretty integral for an album that covers several different musical ideas the way this one does. I also find the album a lot more memorable and unlike The Last Caress of Light which I did not revisit until my promo of Severance arrived I find myself wanting to keep going back to this one. It's a very easy album to lose yourself in and by the time it ends about 45 minutes later starting it all over again seems a very valid option.

Darkest Era's introduction of power metal elements also works wonders for them, The Scavenger being one of my favourites from this very strong album. Much as I love a good and fast power metal riff the rest of the guitar work by Sarah Weighell and Ade Mulgrew shouldn't be underestimated. Darkest Era don't make showy music but as I pointed out in my lengthy musing on the album's genre these two are switching riffs styles a fair bit on this album and plus what folk element is here is also done using the guitars and I'm generally not talking through use of folksy melodic lead playing, but with more riff like structures. Vocalist Krum seems have got even stronger in voice than he was before too. He's a real commanding presence on this record. Everything is simply done better than on The Last Caress of Light, and that was a pretty solid debut in my opinion.

Severance is a special album. There really isn't anything else I can say to round off this review than to stress how special it is. And yet it feels as though despite how strong it is that Darkest Era may still have even better to offer as they continue to grow as musicians and songwriters. Given how much growth is noticeable between this and The Last Caress of Light it doesn't seem unreasonable to think that by the time Album #3 comes around they'll be producing some of the best and most innovative metal music on the planet. But for now it's an easy high end 4.5 stars for Severance.

94/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/darkest-era-severance-t3562.html)