Picture it: Germany, 1985. A sweaty, beer-soaked throng of denim-vested metalheads gathered in a small, dingy club. They’re headbanging, crowd-surfing, and circle-pitting like maniacs while a four-piece band is on stage ripping through fast, aggressive, yet undeniably catchy thrash metal. Sounds awesome, right? That’s exactly where your mind go after spinning DARKNESS latest release, ”The Deathsquad Chronicles”.
This special album celebrates 40 years of the German thrash legends history. It’s worth noting these aren’t all new songs, but re-recordings of some of their most pivotal and memorable moments from across those four decades. We get choice cuts from 1987’s Death Squad (their best and cult album from the genre) and its successor Defenders of Justice (1988), a track from Conclusion & Revival (1989), some material never recorded, and yes, 2 brand new songs.
So yeah, we have here the good old thrash metal from the ’80s, pimped up with the latest technology. While the original character has been retained, the sound, precision and production take the material to a new level. The Death Squad Chronicles is both a retrospective and a statement: a tribute to the band’s roots and proof that true thrash metal is timeless.
And there’s more; this ”Death Squad Chronicles [Ltd. Mediabook Boxset]” includes a bonus CD with DARKNESS & FRIENDS, classic songs from the band performed by the singers / musicians of Kreator, Warrant, Sosom, Toxpack, Fueled By Fire, Assassin, Teutonic Slaughter, Traitor, and many other German bands, another proof of DARKNESS’s influential legacy.
Throughout ”The Deathsquad Chronicles”, Darkness skank, gang-shout, and strangle their instruments with venomous vigor. You’ll hear Bay Area histrionics, nods to the holy trinity of German thrash (Sodom, Destruction, Kreator), and even flashes of NYC crossover.
From intro “The Gates” into the rapid-fire assault of “Terror for Terror,” it’s clear that tactile precision and unrelenting speed rule the day. This approach continues through “Battle to the Last,” “Death Squad,” and “Soldiers.”
Finally, the gas pedal eases up for a baroque classical guitar intro on “Burial at Sea,” which settles into a mid-paced stomp before the acoustic bookend closes it out. It’s a brief respite.
Next up, “Last Round Is on Us” rockets forward with nitro-fueled pacing, the title suggesting they’ve shared more than a few beers with Tankard. “Victims” lands a boot straight to the teeth, followed by the ominous, minor-key intro of “Iron Forces,” before stomping back into high gear.
“Defenders of Justice” delivers chromatic death chugs before blasting back to a 200bpm belter. It’s almost as if Darkness use these slower breaks as a wink and a nod, just long enough for us to catch our breath, before pivoting on a dime to beat us into submission again. I love that about these songs.
The album’s longest track, “Predetermined Destiny,” kicks off with tasty guitar leads over a descending chug before sliding into d-beat ferocity. A halftime midsection builds tension and shows off some melodic sensibilities before the chaos resumes. Finally, mercifully, perhaps, Darkness close with “Proud Pariah,” another Teutonic stormer that ends the record with endurance-testing ferocity.
After 51 exhausting, exhilarating minutes, these guys prove they may be long in the tooth, but it’s a razor-sharp, bloodstained tooth. They can still deliver anthemic, tight, syncopated thrash with the best of the young bucks. Would they tell you to get off their lawn? Probably. But they’d do it with such fury and conviction that even the flipped-bill-hat crowd would respect it.
All hail Darkness and the absolute assault and battery that is ”The Deathsquad Chronicles”. They sound youthful, energized, and invigorated here.
Here DARKNESS open a powerful new chapter in their history. To mark their 40th anniversary, the album combines the raw energy of the band’s early years with a powerful, modern sound, bringing the untamed spirit of the ’80s directly into the present.
While we still prefer the original ’80s recordings – imperfect, but with all the chard from the era – the new versions are powerful, metallic killers, with a punchy modern production where every palm-muted guitar, lightning-fast drum blast, pocketed bass line, and snarled vocal cuts through cleanly.
Highly Recommended
1. Wake up in Rage (03:58)
2. Death Squad (03:08)
3. Victims (02:27)
4. Hate Is My Engine (04:05)
5. Terror for Terror (04:04)
6. Burial at Sea (05:58)
7. Soldiers (04:14)
8. Iron Force (03:11)
9. A Couple of Kills (04:11)
10. Armageddon (04:08)
Darkness- Death Squad Chronicles XL (2025), MP3+FLAC
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