Style: power metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: war, loss, religion, futility, family, marriage
Thoughts: What a difference a year makes. The year prior the band had released their excellent Bleed album which was already a huge step over the year prior. Now a few short months later we get Enlighten the Darkness which is another huge step up in quality from the previous album.
The album starts out with the one two punch of Let Me Live and The One You Are. Both of these are highly melodic yet exceptionally heavy power metal songs. They have the constant double bass that the genre is known for but it's that heaviness that drives the songs for me... not just these songs but the entire album.
One of my biggest issues with power metal in general is that it's too happy and too poppy. It feels like happy go lucky music with distorted guitars.... which is exactly what it is in most instances. Not so with Angel Dust. The band still incorporates melody, but for the vast majority of the album the band is squarely in the minor key and deals with subjects that most don't dare touch within the context of power metal.
The toil and loss of war rather than the glory? Yes, they have multiple songs about loss and the separation of man and wife during times of war. The ruthlessness of religion and it's intolerance? Absolutely. The futility of life and fighting against things greater than yourself? Yeah, that's here too.
The whole album flows from one song to another and it truly feels complete. The interaction of melodies between the keyboards and the guitars is near flawless. They will be heavy when they need to be. They will have atmosphere when it's needed. Speed. Rage. Hope. Whatever the emotion is needed the instrumentation delivers.
With all this Dirk's vocals again are tastefully done and match the requirements of the instrumentals perfectly. Playing the aforementioned husband with an accompanying female vocal is used during multiple songs (Fly Away, The One You Are, Still I'm Bleeding). He is a constant highlight throughout the album and is one of the primary reasons I enjoy this band as much as I do.
Enlighten the Darkness is the finest album the bands discography. The follow up saw the departure of Bernd and his excellent guitar work. Unfortunately Of Human Bondage did not hit nearly the right emotional notes for me despite being a much darker album than this one. Regardless, the fact that we got this album and Bleed and the incredible albums that they are is to be celebrated. Even more so now that they have gotten repressed and are available to a new generation of metal fans.
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