DITHERAMB (Darkest hour)

Reviewed by msl on (Friday, August 11, 2006) Rated 8.8 / 10
Category Rating
Track Structure 10
Interest 10
Melody 9
Performance 9
Lyrics 9
Enjoyment 10
Recording Quality 6
Commercial Appeal 7
Overall 8.8

Hello everyone again!!  This is my third time reviewing the 4 man band, Ditheramb (which to me gives the sound of a REAL bad lisp of saying, “Dice a lamb”).  If you haven’t heard of this amazing epic rock band you should be aware that they consist of the following:  Jack Greenhill, playing the bass guitar, Glenn Townsend, hitting the drums, Steve Kinghorn, as the lead singer who plays the guitar, and last but not least, Scott Kinghorn who is also playing the guitar as well (always good to copy and paste from previous reviews, huh?).  You may notice that the score is a bit lower than my previous reviews, but that’s to say that I’m being more critical with my ratings, and besides it’s not about the numbers, but the words!

I have to take time to write another paragraph for this band, because this piece that I’m reviewing from the band is the song that the artist, known around here on the forums as AndyF, remade into his own amazing interpretation through a virtual orchestra, which is sitting at the number one spot in the official charts this week!  So, I’d like to take time to congratulate Andy on his success and also for Ditheramb for being in the number 12 spot.  So congrats guys, you deserved it! 

On that note, let’s get started with the review!!

This 8:10 long song starts off with very light strings and a guitar with an amazing melody, then it a distorted guitar joins in adding to the atmosphere and suspense of what’s to come.  After showcasing these instruments with those melodies, things pick up a bit and we hear the vocals come in.  Then, we hear a bit more grunginess/ bite into it and it’s awesome!  We hear lots of melodic breaks and I believe every member of Ditheramb is showcased well throughout the song, where each member does his own thing at parts in the song and also on top of that, especially in the break, I can say they come through for each other because there’s a nice blend of instruments rocking out!!

There is however two slight problems with the vocals, uh oh!  First of all, I can’t help but notice a pitch problem in the harmony, when the words, “Darkest hour falls,” are sung.  It sounds just a bit off to me.  Second of all, if it wasn’t for Steve giving me the lyrics to this song, I wouldn’t have understood some phrases at all like, “Darkest hour falls.”  However, luckily, those are the only problems I have with the vocals.  The only other two problems as you may have noticed in the ratings are the recording quality and commercial appeal.  Now being harsher with ratings, I put this into Sony Sound Forge and noticed that the dB levels were going all over the place (though it’s real easy for all that distortion to get tangled up in the mix).  So even saying that, a live version of this song would definitely send some chills down my spine, in a good way of course (I would love to hear a professional recording of this).  I only rated the commercial appeal like that because of the length of the song.  I personally don’t have a problem with the length, but from a commercial perspective, you can’t really put the whole tune in a commercial, tv show, etc.  I can however see it being played at the credits of a dramatic action movie, and being played live with of course being a part of a mosh pit.

There’s really one word you can describe this song and that’s epic!  Listening to their songs, I’ve known this band to be very dramatic and they have been pulling that aspect of it off so well.  Even though the length of the song may look intimidating to some, it definitely holds out your interest for its entirety and for something like that, it says a lot about Darkest Hour.  Personally, this has to be one of my favorite Ditheramb tracks, even though it may be an old track.

For those also interested in Andy’s classical version of this song, go here.

 

A MUST HAVE!!!!!!!

To listen to the track Click Here