HUMAN

Known for their melodic progressive metal sound, Darkwater is another metal band formed in Sweden in 2003. Since the time of their formation, they have only released 3 albums. Their 3rd album, released in March of 2019, and named "Human" is their first album in almost a decade. The band, however, has pretty much been left intact. Henrik Bath is on Vocals and guitars, Markus Sigfridsson also on guitars, Magnus Holmberg on keyboards, Simon Andersson on bass, and Tobias Enbert on drums.

"Human" was announced as an album with more intensity than previously, but still with attention given to the melodic side. The band is not afraid to have epic length songs either, with 5 of the 10 tracks exceeding 8 minutes and lasting as long as 11 minutes. The entire album is over 75 minutes. The music is inspired by early Dream Theater and Fates Warning, but Darkwater has a sound of their own. This is actually closer to how you wish the newer Dream Theater would sound.

"A New Beginning" starts off with a peaceful piano solo and the blasts into life led off with synthesizers and later joined by heavy riffs and vocals. Even with the heaviness, the continuing piano is not buried, but mixed in with all of the other powerful sound and still easy to hear, so everything is present and up front. Nothing is drowned out, the heavy guitars don't overpower the organ that comes in later, this is an excellent recording with everything in balance. The next track "In Front of You" follows in the same vein, lots of guitar and keys, and even sounds inspired from "Devin Townsend" with the choral-like synths, wall of sound style and even the harmonies on the chorus. Things calm a bit when the vocals start, but still stay somewhat heavy as things continue. Things even get a bit symphonic during the instrumental break, and then go very progressive with an awesome section. I really like this!

"Alive Pt. 1" is a short atmospheric introduction with guitar and vocals which moves into "Alive Pt. 2" which continues with this same balanced sound, heavy at times, lush in other sections, great guitar solos and synth work and melodic themes and vocals. "Reflection of a Mind" is the longest track on the album and begins with a music box style that builds and follows a dramatic and symphonic style. There are a lot of changes and emotion on this track that will keep progressive lovers happy. The music here will keep those that like heaviness happy, but will also be appealing to those that love variety, dynamics and complexity. It's all here and it all fits together quite well, plenty of guitars and plenty of keyboards.

This is the style that you can expect from the entire album. The music on here is progressive, heavy and still quite accessible all at the same time. While the music is progressive metal, there are a lot of keyboard parts here also and the music is all top notch. I would recommend this album to anyone who loves this style of music. If you love the aforementioned bands, then you will also love this.

"UPDATE INTERESTING NEW PROG"

Darkwater is a Swedish prog metal band, founded in 2003, the band released the albums Calling The Earth To Witness (2006) and Where Stories End (2010), then it took 9 years before Darkwater came with a third album entitled Human (2019). Although I am not very much into prog metal I don't dislike the genre. Because as a huge fan of Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Led Zeppelin and Rush I am always up to heavy guitars and bombastic keyboards.

Listening to this album I notice that the musicians are skilled and the singer does a very good job in English. It is also the very distinctive realm of the prog metal (with hints from Dream Theater and Ayreon, along Europe) featuring heavy guitars and a thunderous rhythm-section. But Darkwater add two elements that make it more interesting than the average prog metal band. First the outstanding keyboard work, not only flashy synthesizer flights, but also sparkling piano, a captivating contrast with the heavy sound. There are awesome Gothic female choir layers in In Front Of You, Alive Part II and The Journey. And an orchestral sound in Turning Pages, and the final track Light Of Dawn (also sutble organ arpeggios in the intro).

And second the band knows how and when to slow down, in order to create tension, and to keep my attention. Like in the opener A New Beginning, from tender piano to a 24-carat prog metal climate with thunderous drums and heavy guitar riffs. And also in the dreamy Alive Part I (mellow vocals, acoustic guitar and soaring keyboards) and the varied Burdens (between dreamy and bombastic).

The magnum opus on this album is the alternating epic Reflections On A Mind: a splendid, very varied keyboard sound, an excellent vocal job, and exciting propulsive guitar riffs and thunderous drums, this is top notch prog metal!

Highly recommended, not only for the prog metal fans, but also those progheads who are into harder-edged prog and Heavy Prog.

After 9 years of absence ,Swedish prog metal outfit Darkwater is back with their third release Human. This is a really new begining for the band which was often compared with some leading bands in this genre. The album delivers solid progressive / melodic metal with powerful production sound and an exceptionally talented lead singer, Henrik Bath. The rest of the band are superb musicians as well , as they have created many memorable soundscapes in which such an amazing vocalist can shine. Cool riffs, great atmospheric / symphonic keyboards and catchy melodies are everywhere on this record. The prog elements added in the riffs and rhythm are very well placed and sound very natural. Highlights include Alive (Part II) (personal favorite) and In Front of You. The second part of the album has some monotonous moments and it does feel a bit hollow and lacking in dynamism at times and is the only thing at all that detracts from the overall quality of the album. Human is definitely a step forward in the band's career and proof that Darkwater still has something to offer in prog metal world.