As we near the end of what has been an amazing year for music, I have to give some space to one of my favorite albums of 2024, a record that’s been getting so many plays on my turntable I may need to pick up another copy.
Compton’s THE DARK dropped one of the best LPs of the year with Sinking Into Madness this summer (even more impressive considering members of the band released albums in TOZCOS and PERSONAL DAMAGE respectively). An album as moody as it is heavy, Sinking Into Madness mixes 80’s metal and thrash with hardcore punk and dresses it all in head to toe deathrock black. And while there are endless sources of inspiration to pick apart here, the big two that continuously rear their heads to my ears are 80’s UK metal punk and metallic Japanese hardcore, the former showing in the galloping drums and riffs and the latter in the uniquely evil vocals and fiery guitar leads.
Take “Criminal”, with its searing riffs and “No One To Grieve”’s menacingly slurred growl, two songs that wear their Uchida and Sakevi influence loudly and proudly. Elsewhere “Heartless” and title track “Sinking Into Madness” are both pure MOTÖRHEAD worship, with galloping drums that sound straight off of “Overkill”.
Lyrically, it’s all gloom and shock-horror, fitting considering the cinematic nature of the music. On opener “Monster,” vocalist Irvin proclaims:
I’m a double-headed monster/ I must feed./ Your charred and mangled corpses/ All I leave.
Even still, the scary movie creatures aren’t the most frightening subject matter here as the one-two punch of “The Badge And The Gun” and “Dragged To Hell” focus on something far scarier: the ghoulish police and the system they operate within.
THE DARK have done a stellar job crafting a unique album that already feels lived in and familiar. If you need something to help get through brisk and bleak winter months ahead, throw a log on the fire and let Sinking Into Madness rip.
Checkout the album here on Toxic State Records and be sure to catch The DARK on an upcoming tour date.
