Graced with unforgettably austere cover artwork courtesy of Juanjo Castellano Rosado (Unleashed, The Black Dalhia Murder, Gates of Ishtar), DARKENED's
Kingdom of Decay was guaranteed to be one of THE great death metal albums. DEATH METAL for death metal maniacs, by death metal maniacs!
Everything here is an intensification of that short-but-sweet debut EP: the riffs more patient but punishing, the doom darker and doled out more effectively, the songs more world-eating whilst effectively exploring a greater wealth of dynamics and, it must be said, atmosphere. Elsewhere, the winning formula of Into the Blackness remains largely unchanged - the stately, steely pulse of later Bolt Thrower or the subsequent Memoriam dusted with the classy melodicism of A Canorous Quintet and successors This Ending, but all done with a touch that's somewhere between comfortably familiar and subtly unique - and you can now also add a touch of the tank-like onslaught of prime Grave, with everything given a gleaming CRUSH courtesy of the mixing by Tobbe Sillman (General Surgery) and mastered by the only and only Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity) in the famous Unisound Studio in Sweden. This is what debut-album dreams are made of...or nightmares!
Second pressing with exclusive slipcase cover due to huge demand (EDGE038CD2)
1. Nekros Manteia
2. Dead Body Divination
3. 1000 Years
4. Pandemonium
5. Cage of Flesh
6. The Burning
7. The Old Ones
8. Kingdom of Decay
9. Of Unsound Mind
10. The White Horse of Pestilence
11. Winds of Immortality