There’s no artist quite like Dark Sarah traversing the Heavy music landscape today. On Grim, their fourth full-length, the Finnish quintet take their brand of Symphonic Metal, mash it with The Birthday Massacre-style Gothic Electro, Within Temptation’s grand presentation, and the twisted bits from Oingo Boingo or main man Danny Elfman’s cinematic score work to create an unholy story that’s as unique as it is utterly irresistible.
“My Name Is Luna” introduces listeners to the title character of the upcoming sonic journey in a grandiose fashion, presenting a synthetic facade as Heidi Parviainen’s soothing vocals entice and invite listeners to delve deeper. The “deeper” in question really begins with “The Chosen One” which is wrapped in swirling electronics before the heaviness descends and Erkka Korhonen and Sami-Petri Salonen’s mechanical riffs ricochet off gargantuan symphonic accompaniment and Parviainen’s equally huge vocal presence and operatic range.
“Illuminate” is like “The Neverending Story” mixed with one of Dragonforce’s old school bangers while “Melancholia” is a biting pummeler with Thomas Tunkkari rattling off frenetic blasts of unrelenting percussive greatness as the rumbles from Rude Rothstén’s bass resonate straight through to yer bones. “Iceheart” is a shivery fable that’s as much a modern fairy tale as it is a fiery barn burner of an aural anthem and later, “La Folie Verte” is straight out of some Elfman madcap score as Parviainen’s playful bounce matches the subtle maniacal sounds threaded throughout before opening up into a similarly strange rawker with an eerie all around vibe.
“The Wolf and the Maiden” features JP Leppäluoto and is like Phantom of the Opera meets Devin Townsend’s recent experiments in progressive theater, “The Hex” is all synthetics and staccato shreds, and “All Ears!” is, quite simply, straight-forward definitive Symphonic Metal. Closing the book, “The Dark Throne” presents listeners with the last chapter of Grim and a pulsating Electro Symphony of elegant effacy that caresses just as much as it crushes.
Grim lands on July 17th through Napalm Records. Pre-orders are live now and can be purchased by clicking here or here. For more on Dark Sarah, follow them across the interwebs by heading here, here, or here.