Album Review: Darkest Hour-Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora

Following the lukewarm reception of their 2013 self-titled record, melodic death metal/metalcore veterans Darkest Hour chose to leave Sumerian Records and replicate the crowdfunding formula that many of their battle-tested peers (Protest the Hero, Misery Signals, Sevendust) have utilized over the last few years to make their new album. The Indiegogo campaign they launched in February 2016 ended up raising over $67,000 (their goal was $50,000) and without a record label to answer to, the band vowed to release an album that would make their fans proud. Just over a year after they put out that statement to their Indiegogo backers, Darkest Hour managed to deliver exactly what they promised with the ferocious Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora.

Listening to Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora conjured up the feelings I had when I first heard Unearth's Watchers of Rule in October 2014. Like Unearth, Darkest Hour is an often overlooked band that has never bottomed out over the course of their lengthy career, but had admittedly lost a little bit of the edge that defined their seminal work in recent years. Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora puts a stop to the trend with the unexpected and glorious return of pissed-off Darkest Hour after a multi-album reprieve. They go straight for throat on the opening notes of this record and keep the aural assault coming for 12 attention-grabbing tracks. I have zero idea what was behind the sudden resurgence of non-stop suffocating aggression in Darkest Hour's music, but as a big fan of their blistering early work, I'm very thankful that it occurred. 

Darkest Hour's return to their viciously heavy roots is further aided by the wizardry of producer Kurt Ballou. Ballou's knack for knowing when to deploy a certain instrument in the mix gives Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora a colossal, well-balanced sound that emphasizes the strengths of each member of the band. On the particularly venomous thrash-inspired tracks like "Knife in the Safe Room" and "Another Headless Ruler of the Used", the breakneck riffs and frantic solos of guitarist Mike "Lonestar" Carrigan lead the way. On the more melodic material like "The Last of the Monuments" and "Beneath It Sleeps", the emotionally-charged vocals of John Henry take the steering wheel. On the songs that falls somewhere in between ("Those Who Survived", "Timeless Numbers"), Travis Orbin's powerful drumming is thrust into the spotlight. The balance the production achieves keeps this record's frenzied nature fresh and exciting for the duration of its 45-minute runtime. As impressive as the performances and passion put forth from the band are on this record, Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora probably wouldn't have had its devastating gut-punch impact without a maestro of destruction like Ballou behind the boards.

Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora is the return to form Darkest Hour diehards have long been hoping for. This record drops all of the other slight sound changes they've gone through on their last three releases and brings back the electric energy and biting rage that made them one of the elite metal bands of the early-to-mid-2000's. This is without question Darkest Hour's finest release since their 2007 classic Deliver Us and I have a feeling that it will help garner some of the much-deserved attention that's evaded them for much of the last decade.  
   
4/5 Stars
Standout Tracks
1.Those Who Survived
2.Another Headless Ruler of the Used
3.In the Name of Us All