While labeling them as a super group may be a bit of a stretch, the meeting of the minds that is Doomriders are as clear and concise in their intentions as ever on “Darkness Come Alive“. For this is an effort that is both crushing and beautiful in the same and oddly enough; almost the exact expected output from a group that is comprised of members of Converge, Cave In, Dissappearer and Cast Iron Hike.

When one gets right down to it, there are remnant traits of each members day job outfit readily on display. You’re met with the antagonistic skin carving ferocity of Converge, the lush colorful atmospherics of Cave In, the cagey traditionalist hardcore of Cast Iron Hike and the droning Neurosis-like heft of Disappearer; all of which mutate into one raging son of a bitch of an album.

Truly a high watermark for the band, the way Doomriders are now able to mix their doom, gloom and rage in such a volatile, yet evenly keeled path is wholly impressive. A testament to their own individual strengths, the band up their playing ability, but not at the expense of the simplistic, yet unquestionably infectious songwriting. “Darkness Come Alive” is anthemic without intention.

A raging slab of blackened rock n’ roll that takes Entombed’s “Wolverine Blues” and pushes it down the largest, shadiest half pipe you’ve ever seen. A gritty listen like this that yields both color and depth while retaining such ferocious immediacy is truly a rare breed in metal these days.

Sure one could argue that songs like “Come Alive” sound like Glenn Danzig fronting Queens Of The Stone Age, and in some bizarre instances they’d be right. The turgid tempos that can emerge in the middle of the album can also find the group getting bogged down in ‘Neurisis’ territory from time to time as well. But while “Darkness Come Alive” may not be reinventing the wheel, it is most certainly burning off inches of tread by the second.

4 / 5