It came as a surprise to many when The Agony Scene announced in May of 2004 that they had left the Solid State roster and signed on with Roadrunner for the release of their next album. Around a year later from that initial announcement, the fruits of their labor are now revealed with "The Darkest Red", an album that sees the band trim away their early roots and sprout even more new ones in the process.

Sounding far more confident, the band have begun to shy away from the prevalent Swedish-influenced metal that populated their self-titled effort. Such inspirations are of course still readily present, but they now seem far more subtle with the band adopting a modern metal approach akin to that of bands like Chimaira. Dynamics are key and The Agony Scene capitalize upon them well with towering build-ups, virulent riffing, and enough double-kick driven rumble to level a small city.

All of this musical malice is directed by way of Swedish thrash and contemporary metalcore undercurrents which ensure an aggressive and sinister direction - one which the Carcass-reminiscent vocals are instilled with more power from as a result. Yet overall, things have definitely changed for the band. There's no denying that there are at least some commercial aspirations on this effort as its ultra-slick production and adeptly placed melodic vocals are both new additions that will increase the bands appeal to mainstream audiences.

But while this is the proverbial double-edged sword for the group, with much of their craft now far more predictable than it used to be, they still manage to excel on many accounts. It's a rare occurrence, but the incredibly solid mix and glimmering production work in the bands favor, exquisitely complimenting their serpentine moments. Yes, the songs are a bit limited in scope and much of melodic parts are catchy, if not cliche; but that still doesn't stop this outfit from making an impressive Frankenstein out of the standard played-to-death parts dug up from the metalcore graveyard.