MIDNIGHT IN THE VOID

"Midnight in the Void" is the 3rd full-length studio album by German progressive metal act Dark Millennium. The album was independently released in October 2016. It´s the successor to "Diana Read Peace" from 1993 and although there are 23 years between the two releases, there has only been one lineup change as bassist Klaus Pachura has been replaced by Gerold Kukulenz. Dark Millennium formed in 1989 and disbanded in the mid-90s after releasing two demos and two full-length studio albums. They started out playing death metal with doomy sections and occasionally progressive structures, but on "Diana Read Peace (1993)" there wasn´t many death metal elements left in the band´s music.

The death metal elements have returned on "Midnight in the Void", as lead vocalist Christian Mertens again treats the listener to his raw yet intelligible snarling vocals. He has the ability to sound both aggressive and desperate at the same time, and he is actually quite the unique singer. While he is probably the greatest asset here because of his incredible voice and delivery, he is unfortunately also the biggest downfall, because of the often badly written lyrics, which often border and sometimes enter cringe worthy territory. I hate to come down on him like this, being a second language English speaker myself, but I´m sure a little translation help/help understanding the English language could have made a major difference.

The instrumental part of the music is quite eclectic, and while there are atmospheric doom/death sections on the album, Dark Millennium are far from being a standard act in that genre. Some tracks are progressive in nature featuring adventurous song structures and odd musical ideas. The most obvious example is of course the 17:25 minutes long closing track "From a Thousand Years of Yore", but most tracks feature unconventional musical ideas. Take for example the funky guitars on "Dressed for Suicide", and you just know this is not your everyday doom/death metal album release.

"Midnight in the Void" features a powerful, detailed, and clear sounding production, which suits the material well, and upon conclusion "Midnight in the Void" is a welcome comeback for Dark Millennium. It´s an interesting release and features many great musical moments, but it´s not a perfect release, and there are less remarkable tracks and sections on the album too. At 70:21 minutes it´s also a bit too long for its own good, and my attention begins to wander at some points during the playing time. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is still deserved though and to the more musically adventurous listeners, they can probably add a half star to that rating.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives)