Deliver Us : Review

Alrighto, time for a review.
I heard Darkest Hour a couple of months ago, with the first track i heard being Convalescence of the earlier album, Undoing Ruin. I Immediately liked the song. simple riff, being so melodic, that the music makes up for the lack of clean singing, which i always somehow tend to prefer. Don't know why. After hearing a couple more songs, like Sound Of Surrender and With A Thousand Words To Say But One, I got the latest release of their's, titled Deliver Us.
Deliver Us is more of a continuation of Undoing Ruin, without much for a change in music, with even less progressiveness. but it still owns !
The Album can be called as a mixture of All That Remains + In Flames + Killswitch Engage + At The Gates. What more could you ask for ? heh
The Album has a total Running time of 42:28 including the bonus track Closing On The Day.
Heres A Brief Review of every song.
1. Doomsayer(The Beginning Of The End) : The Album kicks off with this song. Starts of with a acoustic bit with multiple layers of guitar. goes into a massive double based riff, and then into this lightning fast riff white maintaining melody the entire time. The Double bass continues almost throughout the song, which is impossible, imo. Eventually goes into a solo section, which has its own riff, like most metalcore bands. into the solo, which is awesome. this band has some brilliant solo skills, having very melodic and memorable licks and shredding type solos,with a lot of sweeps used as well..all in all a good song, maybe more vocal versatility could have been better.
4/5

2. Sanctuary : This song quickly goes right into the verses,with a riff thats repeated heavily throughout the song. the Chorus has clean vocals (what?!) yeah, but they aren't too special, almost like spoken word. not a lot of melody. a solo was vital in this song, and lack of one makes it pretty repetitive with multiple listens. had potential, but wasn't worked upon.
3/5

3. Demon{s} : This was the first single off the album, thereby giving it more credit then it deserves. It is a Pretty good song though. The Chorus section is better then some other songs, and sounds pretty good, compared to something like Sanctuary. The Solo is where this song really stands out. it goes into a crushing riff, which in turns gets so quickly converted into a melodic solo using the wah pedal, Kris Norris is one talented bastard i tell ya. Nice song, but i think they should have worked on the chorus to make it more catchy.
4/5

4. An Ethereal Drain : This song in so musically and Instrumentally brilliant. the Riff itself sounds beautiful, almost a little karmic or something, its hard to explain. Lyrics on this song are really good, with sensible yet well though of stuff like 'Weaving our lives with chaotic design' sounding really ..'ethereal' ? hehe the chorus is awesome, but moreover because of the harmonized guitars at the back. the Solo on this song is probably the best one on this album. it has such a transparent, smooth feel, and sounds awesome. has heavy use of sweeps. the outro sounds really good. all in all a very fluid song that comes and goes, but feels very ethereal as they mention, and definetly one of the best on the album. Should have been a little bit longer though, especially at the solo section.
4.8/5

5. A Paradox With Flies : This song is , IMO, what should have been the first single, rather then Demons. the starting is brilliant, a fitting successor to An Ethereal Drain. The Song has a very atmospheric feel to it. Has one of the best choruses on the album, very catchy, and it stays in your head. Drums on this song are brilliant as well, transitioning between double bass and blast-beats. The Slowed down version of the bridge before the solo sounds awesome, with bits of double bass coming in at perfect times. A Solo would have made this song perfect, but for some goddamn reason they had to leave it out. nonetheless an awesome song.
4.5/5

6. The Light At The Edge Of The World : This is a small instrumental piece (with spoken word) has a very emotional sort of sound, a lot like Broken Wings of Undoing Ruin. Nothing particularly great and it seems more like a filler then anything else, but not too shabby either, as it is what is expected from Darkest Hour.
2.5/5

7. Stand And Receive Your Judgment : This is much heavier and less melodic songs then the other ones on this album, starting out with a lot of gallop-riffing. It seems almost like they've come up with this song as a mosh-friendly song. No matter, it has and great solo attached to it, which is pretty much what saves this song from becoming repetitive and boring.
3/5

8. Tunguska : Ive no idea what the name means, but the song is great. Goes back into melody from Stand And... with a drum-roll and slowish riff it goes into a fast paced verse riff with very intelligent use of the wah by Kriss. Chorus is good too, with some alternations of scream and clean by Henry. The Second chorus breaks down into slower version, with harmonized guitar, which sounds really good as well. Is the Longest Song on the album clocking at 5:32. The Solo is awesome, though it seems a little ripped off From Pull Me Under by Dream Theater towards the beginning, but breaks out into originality later. lot of Acoustic Interludes present in the song, which is probably why its so long. great song though, a nice mix of everything, if you get me.
4/5

9. Fire In The Skies : This song is straight out metalcore, but with Unbelievable guitar skilled showcased by both guitarists. a lot of harmonizing , harmonized solos, interludes, bridge section, everywhere..hehe...the is brilliant melody, which shows more melodeath influence then metalcore at times. but all in all a brilliant song, although just for the instrumentals.
4.4/5

10. Full Imperial Collapse : This is another heavy song, on he lines of Stand And...starts out funnily, with one of the guys telling the band to wait, but they don't...real fast song, lot of powerchord usage more then melody, with some slow guitar slides to add a creepy-ish sort of effect...has a kickass breakdown towards to the end...uses a lot of evilish-progressive sounding guitar licks as well..nice song, should have been a little longer with some versatility.
3,5/5

11. Deliver Us : First time that I've seen the title song come in last , heh. Has a more epic feeling to it, right from the beginning..its an alright song, nothing special as compared to the other, and i havent given it a lot of play time, but its a decent song
2.5/5

12. Closing On The Day : This song is a Bonus that comes with some CDs. Idiots. I have no idea whey left out such a awesome song from being included in the A-side...could have easily replaced one the songs...very melodic, with an awesome chorus,very catchy. The Solo is brilliant as well, which by now is very identifiable with Darkest Hour. The song should have been longer with a longer solo-section though..
4.5/5

All in All a Great album , with Brilliant Guitar and Drumwork. The Bass should be more present though, i feel. The Vocals could be better, maybe its time they got a change. Henry's Vocals dont seem to fit in too well with the music on a whole, though they are alright.

Total : 44.5/60
Percentage : 74.5%
Average : 3.7/5