Darkane | METALSITES.net

Biography

This Swedish group emerged in early 1998 from the ashes of a thrash act AGREGATOR. Christofer Malmström (guitar) and Peter Wildoer (drums) joined forces and wrote the songs “Convicted” and “The Rape of Mankind”, which soon got them a record deal with War Music. The duo, along with Jörgen Löfberg (bass), Klas Ideberg (guitar) and Bjorn “Speed” Strid (vocals), recorded “Convicted” and a new track called “July 1999” for the “Wardance” compilation.

Unfortunately, due to his commitments as a member of SOILWORK, Speed could not stay long in the band, leaving Darkane in search of a replacement vocalist. The band asked Daniel Bergstrand of Dug-Out Records if there was anyone he could recommend for the job. The band was very satisfied with Mallory's vocals and let him record the tracks for what would be “Rusted Angel”.

After completing the recordings, the band went on to play a string of shows, including a short European tour. Unfortunately, soon after that Mallory left the group and Darkane were once again missing a vocalist. This problem was solved by the addition of Andreas Sydow to the line-up. Upon the release of their debut album “Rusted Angel” (1999), the band started another string of shows.

In June 2000 the band was working on the record but unfortunately the sessions were plagued by a number of setbacks including burned equipment, an electric storm and floods. Despite the difficulties, Darkane finished the album, appropriately naming it “Insanity”. After securing a deal with Nuclear Blast Records, the band released their second opus worldwide in early 2001. The album was critically acclaimed, with reviewers praising the intense mixture of melodic death and thrash metal with a strong, technical approach. A lot of attention was given to Peter Wildoer's drumming, which was often described as “inhuman”. Sydow's vocals also passed the test, especially when confronted with Mallory's solid performance on “Rusted Angel”. Sydow's style of singing turned out to be something absolutely unique on the metal scene, unlike many other bands whose vocalists sounded very similar to each other.

Their third opus,“Expanding Senses”, was released in August 2002. The record met with a very warm reception – reviewers praised the group's improvement of the winning formula that brought “Insanity”, calling “Expanding Senses” an even more exciting and powerful release. After November 2003, the members of Darkane were ready to start working on their next album. Unfortunately, during the long touring period between 2002 and 2003, drummer Peter Wildoer suffered a serious wrist injury which ultimately became the reason for Darkane's one-year-long hiatus.

Their fourth opus “Layers of Lies” was finally completed in March 2005 and the release dates were set for June 12th in Europe and July 12th in America. Again the album's reception was great, with many reviewers calling “Layers of Lies” Darkane's best work to date. Once the album was out, it was time for the group to hit the road. After the tour, the band recorded a hometown show, which became the foundation for Darkane's first live DVD called “Layers of Live”.

In August 2007, vocalist Andreas Sydow surprised everyone with his decision to leave Darkane. This was a tremendous blow to the band but Darkane continued to write new material and in October they announced Sydow's replacement. During the recordings for the band's fifth album (rumored to be called “Demonic Art”), Darkane again suffered from bad luck, as their studio got badly flooded. Because of this, the recording process was postponed.

In August 2011, the vocal position in the group was filled by Darkane's original singer, Lawrence Mallory.

Current members
Lawrence Mackrory - vocals (1998 - 1999, 2011 - present)
Christofer Malmström - lead guitar (1998 - present)
Klas Ideberg - rhythm guitar (1998 - present)
Jörgen Löfberg - bass guitar (1998 - present)
Peter Wildoer - drums (1998 - present)

Former members
Bjorn “Speed” Strid - vocals & session musician (1998)
Andreas Sydow - vocals (1999 - 2007)
Jens Broman - vocals (2007 - 2011)