Darkane have always been one of the more supreme Scandinavian metal-acts out there, and with their third effort ‘Expanding Senses’ they just showed the scene justice once again. The band have taken somewhat of a different approach on this new one. Now, before this release they were mainly focussing on the thrash part for one, but on this disc they’ve managed to shove in a great mixture of thrash-progressive metal, even some death metal parts can be noted here and there. Expanding Senses takes a big shit on most of the Scandinavian Death/Thrash clones which have been surfacing the scene for quite some time now.

Peter and co show superb technicality with diverse thrash-riffage and outstanding blast-beats. Take the phenomenal opener ‘Innocence Gone’ for instance, the listener is directly being hit by some heavy shit in their face. Vocalist Andreas Syow shows his qualities in a thrashtastic way, easily his best vocalwork to date. It’s not really the typical kind of thrash metal growls, but more of a mixture between singing/screaming/growling, a la’ a Chuck Billy (Testament) trademark. Which is, to me, always rather interesting to experience.

While Peter is and always has been one of the main song writers in the band, it seems like he left more room available for the other guys to progress, which is noticeable right away. Ofcourse his drumwork is fantastic all the way, great cymbalwork, added with memorable fills and powerful blastbeats, I wouldn’t exactly call the other instruments irrelevant…. Klas shows his supreme thrash based riffage, while Christofer lays down diverse, melodic, yet typical old school thrash solos. The bass is definitely also more audible than ever, compared to their previous albums. What can I say? Darkane knows how to let some heads spin around.

Fans who’ve been following the band for the past few years might want to check out ‘Chaos V.S Order’, a track which is somewhat different than from the rest on the album, rather Pantera-pounding based . It features ex-vocalist Lawrence Mackrory literally….well, versus vocalist Andreas Sydow. I also noticed a SYL/Fear Factory based riff/beat in ‘Parasites of the Unexplained’. That might come as nice surprise to the listener….it sure as hell got me. Outstanding work, right there.

Standout tracks: Innocence Gone, Solitary Confinement, Chaos V.S Order, Parasites of the Unexplained, in other words…plenty of Thrash for one to enjoy, do pick this up. Once you heard it, it’ll grab you by the throat, and toss you around the fucking room.

[This review was first published on the now defunct scandinavianmetal.info webzine]