lista zespołów Death Doom Into Darkness (ITA) Into Darkness

Hailing from Italy, Into Darkness have just released their eponymous demo but they’re already causing quite the stir. Released in three different formats, tape, vinyl and CD (CD version available via Hellthrasher Productions), not many bands out there can already boast that they have signed to three different labels from the demo stage.

Obviously, and let’s get rid of that right away, maybe the fact that three women make up most of the band’s line-up could be good reason enough in this macho world of Extreme Metal but besides this “unimportant” fact, I think it’s mostly the music that got them up there in the first place. Playing Death Doom the “ancient” way, Into Darkness put themselves in a whole different sphere from the start. Citing many influences to support their own view of music, Into Darkness relate to Asphyx, Derketa, Delirium and – well… you probably saw this coming –to Winter. The “Incantation” like logo also shows another direction for this band but despite all the influences they mention in their bio (and they also include Rippikoulu, kudos for that!) and the fact that yes, on faster parts I can see the correlation with Asphyx, their sound seems more reminiscent of Runemagick’s. Not early Runemagick, mind you, but rather the stuff they released lately from Envenom to Dawn of the End. The main reason being that I sense some ritualistic progression in Into Darkness’ sound which most other bands already mentioned lack of.

Combining doomy parts with more upbeat ones would tend to make you think that Into Darkness are actually working some kind of regression here. While nowadays, bands have somehow compartmented themselves into one genre or the other, Into Darkness’ approach resembles more that of the genre’s forefathers. Bands like Sempiternal Deathreign, Beyond Belief or Lords of Putrefaction (to name just a few) were somehow a lot more brutal than one may be inclined to think and even Paradise Lost and My Dying Bride had moments of sheer violence in the beginning. Coming back to this proto-Death Doom is not just marketing here as it’s really done in a fashion that is on one hand paying tribute to the founding fathers and on the other producing something that doesn’t sound underproduced as, unfortunately, some of these bands would in the past.

But hell, it’s four tracks and as promising as it may sound here and now it’s still only four tracks and to ascend to higher spheres, Into Darkness will be asked to confirm their potential. I certainly hope they will succeed and until then, you ‘re given a rather broad choice to purchase this in any way you like. Doom on!