Review by Daniel for Darkness - Death Squad (1987)

By 1987, the German metal scene had already built itself a very strong reputation for raw & exciting thrash that favoured aggression & violence over technique & musical theory. Many fans would have you believe that the Americans had single-handedly created the genre through hard-hitting trailblazers like Metallica & Slayer but if you do your research you’ll find that the Germans were right there alongside them. In fact, the earliest Teutonic demos from the likes of Sodom & Holy Moses were already aligning themselves with our mighty Lord Satan as far back as 1982 which puts them in direct competition with Metallica’s “No Life ‘til Leather” demo as far as historical timelines go. But unlike the Americans who would seize the opportunity with both hands, the Germans would have to wait a couple more years to see their first commercially released thrash records starting to hit the shelves. It would initially be the Big Three of Teutonic Thrash that would take up the charge with Destruction, Sodom & Kreator all making significant claims to the German thrash throne during the 1984/85 period. The next couple of years would see Kreator & Sodom edging ahead with the first legitimately classic German thrash releases & this would prove to be somewhat of a global announcement to the world with a flood of new players like Exumer, Angel Dust, Assassin, Deathrow, Tankard, Necronomicon, Violent Force, Accuser, Paradox, Holy Moses, Living Death, Mekong Delta & Vendetta all exploding onto the market at around the same time to create a healthy, thriving & self-perpetuating scene. It was amongst this hive of creative activity that Essen five-piece Darkness were learning the ropes & firming up their plans for world domination. 

Darkness were actually one of the earlier German thrash bands having formed back in 1985 while the Teutonic scene was still relatively young. They’d go through various incarnations during their early years with their lineup being an ever-changing beast that morphed between three, four & five piece arrangements on a number of occasions. The young band would record five demo tapes in total over the first two years of their existence before finally seeing their lineup solidifying & gaining the interest of Peter Garattoni & Gunter Marek who decided that the product Darkness were pushing was worthy of investment. Peter & Gunter would form a label known as Tales Of Thrash Records which would provide the band with an avenue for releasing their debut album “Death Squad” in 1987. 

I haven’t been able to find any information on who may have produced the “Death Squad” album so it was presumably a self-produced effort which would make sense given the low budget that was afforded to most young thrash bands of the time. But if that’s the case then the band have done a stellar job because “Death Squad” offers exactly what you’d want from a mid-80’s Teutonic thrash release. It’s raw, dirty & metal as fuck but also possesses an uncommon clarity that allows all of the individual instruments to be clearly identified & enjoyed in their own right. The rhythm guitar sound is dripping with molten metal & is a clear selling point for the album. It reminds me very much of the searing tone that Kreator would achieve on their early classics only it’s a touch dirtier & the guitar solos are just as blazing which is a major plus in my book. The unfortunately named Raper receives a bouncy, clean & powerful bass tone which accentuates the driving energy in Darkness’ music while long-time drummer Lacky is afforded lots of bass & depth in his kick drum & toms along with that signature German snare drum sound that cuts through the mix in a constant & merciless attack on your cranium. The band must have been very happy with the result because it represents Darkness’ sound in a very positive light by highlighting their obvious strengths. 

“Death Squad” would come with some reasonably attractive artwork all thing considered. It was based around a very simple concept with five long-haired & leather-clad members of the undead (the five band members presumably) preparing themselves to take on the town under a full moon. One of the crew is carrying what looks to be a machine gun &, given the title of the album, I’d hazard to guess that Essen might be in for an eventful evening. It’s interesting to note that the album title isn’t displayed on the front cover so for all intents & purposes it looks like a self-titled release. Also, when you examine the band’s logo closely you can see clear elements that have been borrowed from Kreator, particularly in the shaping of the letters. I’ll give you the tip though, this won’t be the only time we’ll be referencing Kreator in the next few minutes either. Overall though, I think this is a pretty good album cover for a young thrash band. It’s easy on the eye, suits the band’s image & is a reasonable representation of what you can expect to hear inside. 

Upon dropping the needle onto the platter for the first time, the listener will find themselves confronted with quite a pretty two-minute acoustic guitar introduction piece known as “Invasion Sector 12”. I’d actually go so far as to say that it’s TOO pretty to introduce a violent thrash record like this one but that wasn’t all that uncommon for the time (see Kreator’s “Choir Of The Damned” or Metallica’s “Fight Fire With Fire” for example) & I nonetheless find it to be a reasonably enjoyable experience. But the action doesn’t really start until the first proper song kicks in with the face-melting thrash-fest known as “Critical Threshold” laying all of Darkness’ cards on the table immediately & ensuring that an appropriate level of uncontrolled chaos ensues. This is a Teutonic thrash record in the purest sense of the term & there has been absolutely no attempt to hide the band’s influences or renovate the house that has been built by the three heavy-weights of German thrash. In fact, on first impression I found it hard to think of “Death Squad” as anything other than a Kreator clone given just how familiar it sounds. Most of Darkness’ most ripping riffs are variations on Kreator’s 1985-87 material & the guitar solos could almost have been lifted straight off those records too. Not to mention the raspy Germanic-accented vocals of front man Olli which sound EXACTLY like Mille Petrozza with the occasional moment also recalling the efforts of Kreator drummer Ventor to top things off. Don’t get me wrong though. I’m a fucking Kreator tragic from way back so I don’t say any of that in a derogatory way. A band that sounds exactly like classic Kreator is a very attractive prospect for me personally. 

Subsequent listens would show that there are actually a few additional elements at play on top of the obvious Kreator worship but none that are terribly surprising. The most pronounced one is the influence of Destruction in the use of lead runs to add complexity to some of the riffs but you can also hear a bit of early Sodom in some of the more basic melodic runs. Plus, some of the slower tracks include lead guitar melodies that remind me a lot of your classic NWOBHM brand of traditional heavy metal (Iron Maiden in particular) & I have to say that I could definitely do without those. The beginning of the instrumental track “Tarsman Of Ghor” (named after John Norman’s “Tarnsman Of Gor” fantasy novel) is a prime example with the use of neoclassical melodies sounding both distracting & out of place. I honestly think that Darkness would have been better served by giving them a miss altogether as they dilute the nasty atmosphere significantly. 

Despite being a little raw, the performances are all very good for a Teutonic debut & you can tell that the band already had a little bit of recording experience under their belts by this stage. You won’t find any of the obvious timing issues you’d generally expect from the earlier German thrash releases other than the odd moment when the kick drum drifts a bit but in fairness Lacky’s skill sets were already superior to many of his peers. I particularly enjoy the off-the-hook approach to the solos which sees the twin guitar attack of Arnd & Pierre going absolutely mental with little concern afforded to irrelevant topics like key or theory & I find this component to represent the highlight of the album. There’s a lot of passion in the DIY feel of the faster material & many of the riff structures indicate that German speed metal may have played a fairly significant role in the band’s musical development.  

There are a couple of slower tracks included however I don’t think they’re as effective as the more flat-out material like “Critical Threshold”, “Death Squad”, “Iron Force” & “Phantasmagoria”. The more restrained tempos tend to highlight the band’s limitations more obviously as the lack of creativity becomes more evident & there’s simply more room for error. Unfortunately, the album also suffers from a significant quality hole in the middle of the tracklisting with “Staatsfeind”, “Tarsman Of Ghor” & “Faded Pictures” all failing to build on a very promising start. Thankfully Darkness manage to recover things quite well during the back end but the most critical element that’s missing here, & the one that’s likely prevented “Death Squad” from competing with the big boys of Teutonic thrash, is the lack of decent choruses. Despite the energy & enthusiasm of this music, Darkness never quite manage to put together those couple of obvious anthems that are required to take a solid record to the next level & this is possibly even more important when you’ve completely sacrificed on any sort of originality because it’s just so easy to make unfavourable comparisons. All things considered though, “Death Squad” is still an enjoyable record for an old school thrasher like myself who is always on the hunt for records to fill the void that was left by the demise of the raw electricity & naivety that was so prevalent in the 1980’s. But I can’t help but think that Darkness could have amounted to more than this given what they’ve been able to achieve by simply borrowing the tools of their more highly regarded countrymen. Oh well… Did I really need another German thrash heavy-weight in my life anyway? Possibly not but “Death Squad” does a pretty good job of reminding me of why I fell in love with Teutonic thrash in the first place. 

For fans of: Kreator, Destruction & Necronomicon.