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Into Darkness – Cassini – Huygens

into darkness – cassini – huygens

Info

One of Death Metal’s most unstable and troubled bands is undoubtedly Italy’s Into Darkness, the band of the inspired leadership by Doomed Warrior. Formed in 2011, the band has thrown in the towel three times in those just over 10 years, so this most recent revival means we are now in Into Darkness’ fourth incarnation. The first feat of this is this new EP, ‘Cassini – Huygens’.

While any Death Metal veteran and/or self-respecting Old School Death Metal aficionado might immediately make the link with Therion’s phenomenal debut album of the same title, musically it doesn’t have much in common with that first work by the Swedes. Under her direction, Doomed Warrior has always steered a more slow Doom Metal-like course in the land of relatively simpler Old School Death Metal. She did once say that Asphyx is one of her biggest inspirations, and that is definitely audible.

Like all previous work, Into Darkness shows its most cosmic side on this new EP. The fascination for astronomy and, in a way, science in general is abundantly clear here in the title, which bears the name of the telescope that was launched in 1997 and aimed at exploring Saturn’s moons. The telescope was named after two progressive figures, an Italian and a Dutchman, from history without whose pioneering work a telescope could not have been manufactured, let alone one that would orbit Saturn.

Okay, back to the music now…. What Doomed Warrior brings to the table here is far from ground breaking and falls nicely in line with the footsteps she made earlier with Into Darkness. The riff-driven Death Metal is still on the slow side but has some forays into mid-tempo here and there with her shrill grunts further completing the Asphyx comparison. Incidentally in the vocal department, when she seems to shake off her Asphyx fascination a bit, she sounds remarkably like Cadaveria in her heyday in Opera IX. Both ladies have somewhat similar throaty screams and grunts, which certainly does not speak against Doomed Warrior. In addition to this variation in vocals, she also uses a vocoder at one point, giving a somewhat electronic feel, not entirely unlike what, for example, Cynic also showcased on its debut album – albeit not as flashy and ubiquitous.

All in all, this EP, which clocks in well under 30 minutes, marks a fine return from Into Darkness. However, it is certainly to be hoped that Doomed Warrior does hold it all together this time and does not call it a day soon again. Be that as it may, it is always refreshing to listen to something without the standard and well-trodden paths of death, gore and Satanism that in many cases have completely lost their value over the past decades.