Band:	Damnation Army
Album:	Circle Of The Brave
Style:	Black metal, Thrash metal
Release date:	March 30, 2009
A review by:	Lucas

01. Resurrect My Demon
02. 999 Devils Descent
03. Last Breath
04. Angels Of The Underworld
05. Dark Ones Misery
06. Manipulated Dream Design
07. Upon The Bleeding Horns
08. I
09. Pha-Luteria

I first heard about Damnation Army after the release of their '06 album Tyrant. It didn't really stick back then, but well, everybody deserves a second chance. Or, fourth chance, if you count the first two albums Misanthropic Satanarchy and The Art Of The Occult. Anyway, up for discussion today is second (or fourth) chance Circle Of The Brave.

Damnation Army is often categorized as Black / Thrash, but that's something I'm going to have to disagree with. Yes, there are a lot of Thrash riffs on here, but it is nothing like an Absu or Aura Noir. The difference between the D.A. and other Black / Thrash acts is that D.A. does not focus on aggression or high-speed neck-breaker-riffs, but rather on melody and harmony. In fact, it sounds more like a blackened and thrashy form of Gothenburg metal to me. It's darker than regular Gothenburg too, which is probably why I can enjoy this, but dislike bands like Arch Enemy.

I have one complaint with Damnation Army, though. Circle Of The Brave isn't really a brave album. It plays too much on the safe side. Perhaps all you regular Gothenburg won't have problem with this, but my daily playlist consists of Black and Doom and well, it just doesn't really impress me in terms of extremity. That's not really a biggie, though.

In the end, I'm afraid this one won't really stick either. For different reasons, though. It's a good album objectively speaking, but my taste in music has changed too much to really enjoy this album's essence. I appreciate it, yes, and it was fun to bump into this band again, but really, no thanks. But if you like your metal Gothenburg-styled, or simply aggressive with a lot of melody, then by all means, go for it.