Band:	Darksun
Album:	The Dark Side
Style:	Symphonic power metal
Release date:	2007
A review by:	Jeff

01. Invocation
02. The Dark Side
03. A Hero Reborn
04. Slaves Of Fear
05. Blood Brothers
06. Prisoners Of Fate
07. Echoes Of The Past
08. Elegy Part I (Confrontation)
09. Elegy Part II (Light Between Darkness)
10. Elegy Part III (Agony)
11. Legend

You probably don't know Darksun yet but maybe that some of you know the band under its first name Northwind. Back in time the band used to write vocals in Spanish but they finally chose to "sing" in English to probably catch a larger audience. It's a good thing in my opinion, after all Darksun plays a nice music and they have the class to become in the future a good recognized band so let's hope that this choice was a good one!

Darksun plays Power Metal with symphonic touches. Their new album, "The Darkside" (which is the English version, with a new singer of "El Lado Oscuro"), is a nice combination of classic Power Metal (fast rhythm, double bass drum and catchy melodies) with some Symphonic choruses. It's really epic and will please to all the ones who like Rhapsody or even Nightwish. The songs aren't easy though, Darksun wrote a good bunch of potential hits of Power Metal with however a lot of intelligence in the writings. I mean that the songs of this album aren't easy (even if it's Power), they're all deep with complex structures. Actually "The Darkside" reminds me a bit "Temple Of Shadows" of Angra, without maybe the genius of the Brazilian combo but evidently it's already really promising don't you think?

The performance of the Spanish combo is memorable. For sure the album was recorded in Germany by Denis Ward so the sound is really good but Darksun doesn't suffer of the problems that we can find with a lot of Latin bands. Their singer has a good English accent (not the best but still ok!) and it doesn't sound like a new copy of Saratoga or Mago De Oz, here Darksun proves that the band has its own personality. "The Darkside" is maybe the fourth album of the band but for me it will be the real beginning of the band and I think that a lot of people will discover this band with the help of this good album.

This English version of "El Lado Oscuro" is a good idea. I really think that the band will be able to find now the success that its deserves. For sure if you like good epic Power Metal this it's an album for you. I'm not too much into this kind of Power but I really like "The Darkside" so I'm sure that I will not be the only one in that case! This is not the best album of the year but through this release I have a lot of great expectations for the future of the band! Let's keep an eye on them ok?