Metal Monday: Dark Empire Go From Refuge To Ruin

posted in: Reviews & Playlists

Many bands and albums in the music world often fall into one of two categories: sounding familiar or sounding new and exciting. Long time OurStage metal band Dark Empire started out in the latter category, but with their new release (titled From Refuge To Ruin) they’ve moved more to the former. While they aren’t offering anything that’s particularly new, they are doing a lot of very familiar things extremely well. I reviewed Dark Empire’s last release Humanity Dethroned a while back (Spoiler: it rules), and they’ve since parted ways with the vocalist, which really shows.

Almost immediately, the new album comes across as completely different than Humanity Dethroned. By the end of the first song, they’ve sealed the deal“they’re not the Dark Empire we once knew, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Before the first song is through we get tastes of Symphony X, Dark Tranquillity and Into Eternity all wrapped into one neat little package. Considering how many influences and styles float around on From Refuge To Ruin, it’s amazing how cohesive the album feels while switching between the styles.

One thing that remains a constant plus for Dark Empire is their knack for solid and smart songwriting. Unlike many of their progressive metal cohorts, Dark Empire do not become lost in progressive odysseys. In fact, the average song length isn’t even seven minutes per song”this says a lot considering the album closes with a fourteen minute epic titled “The Cleansing Fires.” In addition to having good songwriting, the sequencing of the album is about as perfect as it could be; each of the lengthy or less catchy songs on the album are spaced out a bit. A very nice ebb and flow occurs between songs.

In terms of production, From Refuge To Ruin feels a bit safe. At no point does the production on the album ever reach a point where it becomes truly impressive or sets itself apart from the crowd, but it never gets in the way, either. From a mixing standpoint, everything has adequate room too breath. Still, there isn’t much volume dynamic to be found on the album, which becomes pretty apparent as the acoustic opening section of “From Refuge To Ruin” transitions to and from sections with huge distorted guitar chords.

All of that being said, there isn’t anything wrong with From Refuge To Ruin. Whether you want to dock it points for being a bit safe or too familiar at times is your call. We’re going to stick with praising this record for nailing it’s influences to create an all-around solid record. From Refuge To Ruin is an album that should absolutely be checked out by anyone who is a fan of progressive metal in the vein of Symphony X. Don’t believe us? Sample it below and decide for yourself!