Band:	Signs Of Darkness
Album:	The 17th Floor
Style:	Melodic black metal
Release date:	February 10, 2004
A review by:	Undercraft

01. The Karthagener Experiment
02. Portraits
03. She Calls Me A New Age Nomad
04. Silent Cold Enigma
05. Winters Dying Day
06. Descending Crescending
07. Unity And Humidity
08. Embraced By Dreams, The Conquering Of Summer
09. M.I.T.T.R.H.E.

17th Floor, all down please

Signs Of darkness are a band from Belgium, and they play easy Black Metal, very melodic and with no further complications, as a matter of fact, is quite easy to like this band, on the contraire, is also easy to hate them. Me? I stand objective although you'll get my personal opinion at the end of the review.

A little history to fill some blank spaces, this is the band's sophomore effort, first album actually featured some female vocals, this time they didn't require the services of a female singer. What did stayed this time was the keyboards, they lie in the back giving atmosphere to the music, but most of the time you won't even feel them.

The package is nice I think, for being an independent release, the artwork was done by Kris Verwimp, artist known for his work with some Black Metal artists (Immortal, Marduk, Enthroned among others).

My problem in the album doesn't lie in the music but in the quality of the sound and the mix. Someone felt asleep in the mixing sessions, because the drums sound quite bad, and the rest of the instruments doesn't sound that good also. I know is self-released, but those details have to be taken care of from the get-go.

The vocals are interesting, there are neither high pitched shrieks, nor low guttural growls, they're the perfect combination of both. Is important to mention that the music of Sings Of Darkness has a lot of Death Metal influences, so don't expect tr00 Black Metal.

For people interested in some Melodic Black Metal, or "Post Black Metal" as they refer to themselves, should check 'em out, it was an interesting ride, but I don't think I'm going to ride into the 17th Floor too often.