Darkness – ‘Death Squad Chronicles’

Thrash Metal

Massacre Records

Release Date – September 26^th 2025

Review By Smudge Smith

No, not THE Darkness! This is Darkness, the German old-school thrash mob who have been going for over forty years. They proudly carry the torch and decided to re-record some of their earliest songs which appeared on demos from 1985 and 1986 and their first couple of releases along with a couple of their albums from 1988 and 1989. That’s not all; they have unearthed some previously unreleased too.

‘The Gates’ sets the stall out early with a brief mid-paced chugging instrumental to get you warmed up before a new number, ‘Terror For Terror’, shows what Darkness are all about. Rapid, rabid, face-ripping, old-school thrash that gives a nod to all the classics. It’s back to ’88 with ‘Battle To The Last’, which has a stop-start thing going on before weaving into a spidery riff and pounding rhythm. Then we get ‘Death Squad’ from ’86, which could have come off any Exodus album. It’s fast and furious with a gang vocal on the chorus and bound to get a pit going. ‘Soldiers’ from ’89 continues the pace but adds a touch of brutality; standby because the acoustics come out on the intro to ‘Burial At Sea’, but they lull you into a false sense as the guitars build on a crushing riff and singer Lee brings his rough-edged voice. It’s a slow burn before they change gears on the chorus, and the riff comes in waves (sorry!). Another new number is premiered – ‘Last Round Is On Us’ goes metal thrashing mad and reminds me of Power Trip. ‘Victims’ hails from 1985, and you can still hear and feel the youthful vigour 40 years on. ‘Iron Force’, also from ’85, just pummels and comes on like early Venom, so you can see where they get their influences from. ‘Defenders Of Justice’ and ‘Predetermined Destiny’ are both from 1988 and are given a new lease of life with the new recording before the final new song, ‘Proud Pariah’, which rattles along on a vicious riff.

Well done, Darkness, for updating these songs with a superior production. A few bands have done the same, and I don’t know why other bands don’t do it too; I can think of at least 10 albums that could do with being re-recorded on modern equipment, which would make them sound awesome. These songs now have a punch and aggression that were missing from the originals. Of course, they only had the equipment available at the time, but now the sounds today are relatively cheap to obtain. Darkness have produced something special, but it still remains resolutely old-school and yet sounds as fresh as a daisy. Like thrash? You will love this!!

Track List –

The Gates

Terror For Terror

Battle To The Last

Death Squad

Soldiers

Burial At Sea

Last Round Is On Us

Victims

Iron Force

Defenders Of Justice

Predetermined Destiny

Proud Pariah