Darkane

Darkane is a Swedish extreme metal band that originated in Helsingborg in 1998. Their music contains ample thrash elements interspersed with acoustic interludes and symphonic features, such as the in studio use of synthesizers and occasionally full orchestras and choir singing. The name Darkane is a portmanteau of the words “dark” and “arcane”.

Darkane was formed by former Agretator guitarist Christofer Malmström and drummer Peter Wildoer, who recorded a 2-song demo in 1998. On the strength of these two songs, Darkane landed a record deal with War Music, and the band’s lineup was completed by bassist Jörgen Löfberg, guitarist Klas Ideberg, and vocalist Bjorn “Speed” Strid. However, as vocalist of the already-established Soilwork, Speed was unable to continue dividing his time, and decided to leave Darkane. After a period of several months without a vocalist, he was replaced by vocalist Lawrence Mackrory, who was recommended by the band’s producer, Daniel Bergstrand.

Mackrory recorded all vocals on the debut album, Rusted Angel, and performed several live dates with the band later that year. However, due to other commitments, Mackrory was unable to tour with the band in early 1999, and was replaced by Andreas Sydow, who had been a member of a cover band with Malmström years earlier.

After playing many festivals and shows for the next several months, the band signed a new record deal with Nuclear Blast, and returned to the studio to record their second album. These recording sessions would prove challenging, as electrical storms, floods, and equipment malfunctions caused significant issues during the production of the album, which was named Insanity as a result.

After more European touring and their first North American show in 2001, the band began work on their third album, Expanding Senses, which was released in 2002.

Darkane toured extensively following the release of Expanding Senses, and by early 2004 had almost an entire album’s worth of songs written. However, at that time, drummer Peter Wildoer suffered a wrist injury, and began experiencing severe wrist pain. The band went on hiatus to allow Wildoer to recover. During this hiatus, guitarist Christofer Malmström released a solo album (Non Human Level) which was a compilation of unreleased songs he had written from 1998 – 2004. Guitarist Klas Ideberg spent time working with his side project, Terror 2000.

By late 2004, Wildoer’s injury had healed, and the band reconvened to record their fourth album, Layers of Lies, released in May 2005. After more extensive touring, the band started putting together the live compilation DVD Layers of Live, however, this effort would take several years, not being released until 2010. On August 13, 2007, vocalist Andreas Sydow decided to end his tenure with Darkane. This led to the arrival of former Construcdead and The Defaced vocalist, Jens Broman on October 25, 2007.

On October 6, 2007 it was announced that Darkane was writing new material for their fifth studio album Demonic Art, which was later released on October 24, 2008. Peter Wildoer posted this message on his website:

“This coming winter we will start recording Darkane’s fifth record. We have about nine songs ready. We were hoping to enter the studio earlier but in typical Darkane bad luck, our studio got flooded and badly damaged. So now we’re looking for a new location for the studio and as soon as we find that we need to rebuild the studio which takes a lot of time. Hopefully we will start recording around Christmas (fingers crossed). In some weeks, we’ll start working on the mix of the upcoming Darkane DVD. I just hope the DVD will be released early next year”.

Darkane’s only full-length DVD was shot in May 2006 in the band’s hometown of Helsingborg, Sweden.

On August 6, 2011, it was announced that vocalist Jens Broman was leaving the band due to personal issues. He was replaced by former Darkane vocalist Lawrence Mackrory, who appeared on the debut album, Rusted Angel.

On July 30, 2012, it was announced that Darkane was back in the studio recording their sixth studio album, which they planned to release in early 2013. Once released, this will be their first studio album since 2008’s Demonic Art and with Lawrence Mackrory on vocals since 1999’s Rusted Angel.

The album’s title “The Sinister Supremacy” and release date of June 28, 2013, was announced on April 4, 2013. Regarding the title, the band said: “‘The Sinister Supremacy’ is a metaphor for the evil that controls us. It’s the dark part of our minds and it’s inside us all. It tells us it’s OK to do bad things, to hurt other people, and hurt ourselves. It guides us into making choices based on pure selfishness, and it thrives on complete chaos.”

The track listing and the album cover, were revealed on May 9, 2013. The album cover was done by Carlos Holmberg (ex-Soilwork) and the cover is a Rorschach test as seen by an individual who has completely succumbed to the sinister supremacy, according to the band.