Darklight - Light from the Dark (Fuel Records)

“The Beginning” begins this swirling progressive affair of melody, riffs, atmosphere and splendid male and female vocal harmonies. Basically mix your old Dream Theater with your current era Nightwish and Blind Guardian and you should get a rough idea of what this sounds like.

The overall conception of this album is good and even at times exceptional. The guitar playing top notch. However, the lack of true dynamic contrast brought about by not having a full band and the ‘off’ mix as well as effects that are too processed sounding hamper what could be an excellent album.

There is a very distinct impression that Light From The Dark was rushed as the album screams with potential yet consistently fails to demand repeat listens. This could be remedied by

• More time spent editing songs.
• More time spent getting sounds right
• A band. This level of concept requires more people/minds/talent to pull off.
• Both the mix and the final mastering need to be fine-tuned more carefully.