Some funny things happen here from time to time. Let’s say alive albums are not common and we have received very few of them since I started writing reviews. However, last year there was an avalanche – a matter o speaking – of alive albums. The funny thing is not really the amount of alive albums, but that they are all, to some extent, linked to Symphonic Death Metal with touches of Melodic Death Metal and some Gothic features. They were all from the same Metal music subgenre, and, to some extent, alike.
Alright, I received very few information about W.E.B. “Darkness Alive,” I only know it was captured at Gagarin205 in the band’s hometown of Athens on September 22nd, 2024. That’s it. Well, the band has something to say:
“We shared the stage that night with Dark Funeral, and since we were making changes within the band that had us excited, we made the decision to mark this day with a special release, hence our first official live album,” says singer/guitarist Sakis Prekas.
Ok, then, being this one my first time with W.E.B. I have to say I was impressed by the quality of their music. “Darkness Alive” has more variations and shifts than the regular Symphonic Death Metal album. For instance, album’s first kill “Crimson Dawn” delivers a huge violin intro with some cinematic elements. “Dark Web,” on the other hand, delivers a pretty pungent Extreme Metal force combined with very few Symphonic Metal elements. Here the more important feature is the heavyness. There some hidden keyboarding that gives the song an even more mysterious mood. “Dragona“ follows the same path being even heavier with very organic and simple guitars. The shifts in tempo and mood make it one of the best tracks of the album. Other times, the band delivers a kind of taunted weird melody as in “Murder Of Crows“ which, from where I am standing, works pretty fine.
After listening to “Darkness Alive” I got the impression that all tracks are somehow linked, I mean, they seem to tell the same story. Maybe it is an effect of the alive album. That’s the impression I got.
W.E.B. “Darkness Alive” will be released on February 20th via Metal Blade Records.
Track Listing:
01. Crimson Dawn (Live)
02. Pentalpha (Live)
03. Dark Web (Live)
04. Into Hell Fire We Burn (Live)
05. Murder Of Crows (Live)
06. Necrology (Live)
07. Morphine for Saints (Live)
08. Dragona (Live)
09. Eligos (Live)
Watch “Dark Web” alive 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!