| CD REVIEW Dark Order |
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Band : Dark Order In 1993, singer/ guitarist Raul Ignacio Alvarez Garcia (a Chilean immigrant to Australia) founded the Thrash Metal band Vanadium (making him a veteran of the Metal scene in Australia), which delivered their only demo Warrior God King in 1995, and changed its name to Dark Order in 1995 at the occasion of the release of sophomore demo War Of Attrition. Over the years the line-up changed to leave Raul as sole remaining original member and, with his brother Marco Augusto on the drum seat, getting backup from guitarist Diego Jesus Cavieres Silva, bassist Sean Carlton Veale. The band's debut album 5000 Years Of Violence came in 1998. Although a local release, reviewers from all over the world picked up on the album, giving it an average 7,5/10 rating...a moderate but good start for a beginning Thrash Metal from “Down Under”! Sophomore album The Violence Continuum followed in November 2002, released in Australia through Something For Now with distribution through MGM in Australia and through Metal-rules.com in North America. This time, world wide reviews averaged a 9/10 rating! The positive response to the album not only resulted in the band playing support slots with Destruction and Abbadon Incarnate in 2002 and 2003, but eventually also to the band signing to BattleGod Productions (a label with European/ Worldwide distribution through Germany's Twilight-Vertrieb) in February of 2004. As a first result of that collaboration, a special edition (a dual CD/DVD disc with a completely remixed CD part and the DVD part, titled Realm Of The Violence Continuum, containing videos of 2 songs on the album and special features) was made of The Violence Within and released in late October 2006. Raul being of Chilean descent, main songwriter in the band, and playing socio-politically aware music, I suppose it was unavoidable that he would some day tap into his country of origin's dark past, and that's exactly what happened for Dark Order's latest album...in fact, this is a concept album about the Pinochet regime that held Chili in its crushing grip from Sept. 1973 to August 1989. Obviously, there's a lot to tell, and the band does so in a total of 14 songs over a length of no less than 76 ½ minutes! The album starts with what sounds like the historic radio announcement done at the installment of Pinochet at the head of Chili's government (incidentally, it's titled “September 11th 1973”)...and the dumb nitwits cheering on in the back. Little were they to know that, with the help of the American secret services, this new president of theirs would quietly erect his secret police force, which would soon start eliminating opposition to his ever-growing tyranny and oppression. Stylistically, Dark Order does not play full-on Thrash Metal alone! Because although the music is predominantly Thrash, there's also short occurrences of Death Metal, passages that focus towards Traditional Heavy Metal, and even occasionally towards Power Metal and semi-acoustic ballad (check album closer “Requiem Eternal”). The bio also refers to a strong Andean influence (which even gained the band's music a stamp of “Jungle Metal” for their debut album), but I can't hear that on this new album (the closest we get to that is in the semi-acoustic ballad “A Lament For Victor Jara”, in which Raul sings in his native language – the track also seems to have some cello addition, but it might just as well be cleverly played electric guitar, you know). Although life in Chile changed drastically after Pinochet's departure, and the days of oppression over there are in essence things of the past...Raul sends out a spoken word warning in the short “Continuum Of Cold War” that the oppression of Democracy and Free Choice continues to these days. Only think of Guantanamo Bay, and consider that there must be more hidden places whereto “imperial powers”, regardless of their democratic pretensions, kidnap opposition of their reign, in an effort to force these perceived “enemies of the state” into confessions of things they have nothing to do with...or just to get 'em out of the way, give some of the more sadistic among 'em “something” to amuse themselves with, through physical and psychological torture! As Raul says, “...Are the lives and dreams of the ordinary people of Chile, Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Vietnam, and Irak, and Iran, and Palestine...expendable? Worth only a few seconds on the news, if they're lucky? The answer is no! And those who see the world through the eyes of the powerful should be warned! People are rising from the tyranny and oblivion to which we in the West have consigned it.” A dramatic statement to which I completely agree! Personally, I dream of an Utopian day on which a Global Law will be formulated prohibiting politicians, whom are after all paid by the people by means of their income taxes, to have àny interest in Industry what-so-ever! No honorary titles, no seats on boards of directions, definitely no fees as consultants!!! Because the moment these greedy bastards (and I'm not sorry to use that term, because any diminishing of their ugliness would be like condoning their actions) get an interest in the Industry, they stop functioning as public servants, putting their own interests in front of that of the people whom they were elected by (for as far as in some countries one actually gets to vote for a man, and not the political party he belongs to)! Ach...Parlementary Democracy...just a way for those in power to give the “ordinary” people the illusion they actually matter in some way! Huh...modern politicians? If I had my way, it would be their butt, my booted foot...get the picture? Yo, and after thàt little tirade, getting back to Dark Order to tell you that you can listen to no less than 4 songs off the new album (plus 3 more off each of the first two albums) at myspace.com/darkorder is all I've left to do. Also check out the videos (some of which go back to Vanadium days on the one side, while a couple of 'm were recorded – live – only a few months ago). 86/100 Tony. |