First thing that immeadiately came to my mind while listening to Konquest “Dark Waters” for the first time, or the second, I do not remember right, was the tittle and its meaning whatsoever. I was wondering what the band meant when they chose this tittle. To try to help me out I took a look at the cover and it was of no help at all. A some kind of futuristic place – Well, I thought it felt like futuristic, but I was flat wrong – with someone diving or swimming, I cannot really tell, in some dark place. Then I had the epiphany of reading the press release and voilà. Presto! According to it the “album circles around a quiet, dangerous desire: the urge to switch off the light, to unscrew the mind from its socket before the noise becomes unbearable. The protagonist longs for silence, for the stillness that comes when thoughts finally surrender. Yet paradoxically, he never stops traveling. His body may stand still, but his mind sprints through centuries, through myths, through imagined past lives where fire is newly discovered and the world is simple enough to understand.” Ah, okay, then!
“Dark Waters” is Konquest’s third release. We had the pleasure of reviewing their sophomore 2022 “Time and Tiranny.“ I have to say very few things changed from that time. Musicwise, the band pays its honor to Old School Heavy Metal in a very personnal manner. I guess some would label it as Melodic Heavy Metal or other label that fits in, but I stress on the Old School Heavy Metal faith the band delivers here with hard guitar riffings and singalong choruses – that ones full of ohohohoh we singalong without paying any attention.
Lucky us, regarding to the music there is nothing sonically peaceful. Peace here is only a wish, nothing else. It is the good old Old School Heavy Metal with some reminders of a modern band as the neat production, some technical features, and the mood. Yeah, yeah, the mood counts a lot. It is hard to tell precisely, though, where Konquest‘s influences come from. There is a little of Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Dio, hence, the classic plus Old School Heavy Metal modern bands. This may sound a little anachronic, but modern bands do have a musical signature and Konquest are aware of it.
Konquest “Dark Waters” was released on April 08th via No Remorse Records.
Track Listing:
1. Turn The Lights Off
2. Mindwanderer
3. One Ticket For One Ride
4. Dark Waters
5. The Giant
6. Man With A Stone
7. Over The Edge
8. Kubla Khan (A Vision In A Dream)
Watch “Dark Waters” official lyric video here:
I’m just a lucky guy who has chosen metal to live with for a long time. Metal changed my life for good. It made me more confident and stronger. Metalheads are naturally far away from the mass mediocrity and don’t accept impostures from anybody else. Metal is more than music, it’s a life changing oportunity!