Style: Black metal, cosmic black metal, dark ambient
Primary Emotions/Themes: The depths of space, solitude, cosmic horrors
Thoughts: Sometimes I wonder if I like the idea of Darkspace more than I like Darkspace itself. In concept the band is amazing. Black metal centered around the bleakness and emptiness of space. Cold, calculated, alien music that cares little for the mortals consuming it. Amazing concept.
In execution however the band comes off a bit one dimensional on their debut record. While there are certainly moments where the band channels the darkness of space, the entire album comes off as a bit limited.
The basic formula for Darkspace is to play some ambience at the beginning of the track and then blast in with guitars, keyboard, and drums at full volume. This resulting sound is a wall of noise that lacks nuance. I do really like the idea's that are on the record, especially the samples from 2001 and 2010 regarding the HAL 9000 computer. Those add a degree of creepiness to the album that would be lacking without their inclusion.
Despite the band having various riffs and ideas throughout the album, they all come off as nearly identical. The album relies heavily on blast beats and open chord riffing. While this does create an effective atmosphere the album is too long for its own good.
Each of the tracks sound a bit too similar for me to effectively differentiate them. At nearly 80 minutes in length the album overstays its welcome by nearly 20-30 minutes. When taken in a side at a time the album is a bit more digestible, however when taken in all at once it quite frankly gets boring.
Darkspace have something interesting going on here. The concept of the band is excellent, but on their debut album they hadn't quite figured out how to make the music a bit more dynamic. The next few albums from the band are the points where they would master their art and create some truly incredible records.
Written October 12th 2023
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