When I first heard Darkest Hour many years ago I must admit I thought they were Swedish. Their early albums fell so much into the style being brought to the fore by Dark Tranquillity, In Flames and Soilwork that you could swear they owned Saabs and ate a lot of raw fish. 

Whilst they still have a lot of Swedish influences, through a number of excellent albums they've taken these influences and evolved as band to become a bit special in their own right. On 'The Human Romance', their seventh full-lengther, they take all their usual ingredients, i.e. killer riffs, aggression and melody in equal doses, and some damn good songs to produce an album that is Darkest Hour in their purest form. 

If you like melodic European or American thrash you're basically gonna be in your oils, none more so than on 'Man & Swine' which mixes a blistering riff with their trademark twin harmonies and sweeping changes of pace. John Henry still barks as you'd always want him to and Mike Schleibaum leads his troops through the musical assault you've come to expect from Washington D.C.'s finest. With songs of the calibre and power of 'Your Everyday Disaster' and 'Violent By Nature' you're not going to go far wrong and if Lamb Of God let their guard slip anytime soon don't be surprised to see Darkest Hour sneak up on the outside.

http://www.darkesthour.cc/

http://www.myspace.com/darkesthour