Darksun are a remarkably difficult band to find anything out about. They join the fray from sunny Spain and were formed in 2002 and in 2005 made an album called El Lado Oscuro and this appears to be the English language version of that record. In fact when I slotted this onto my I-pod all the titles were indeed in Spanish! Other information is difficult to come by as the English language version of their website hasn’t been updated for a very long time and if you type “Darksun” into a search engine then you’re in geeky gaming territory.  

I’m assuming that this album is produced by Dennis Ward (who must be the busiest man in the world) as he is name checked in the bio and in truth, whoever is behind the console, this is a good sounding disc with an underlying gothic feel. In places it sounds somewhat like Nightwish’s earlier albums and in other it has a Rhapsody feel to it (but not as speedy.) Although in the main The Dark Side is fairly enjoyable you're left thinking that there’s something lacking and I can only assume that it’s the lead vocals which at times seem very flat and at other times out of tune. In particular the final song Legend is one minute and fifty-one seconds of torture. It is truly one to frighten children and small animals. 

The vocals again ruin both The Dark Side and Slaves of Fear, even though both are perfectly serviceable tunes yet they seem less annoying on A Hero Reborn and Blood Brothers which bears no resemblance to the Maiden song of the same. This one is much more melodic yet hard at the same time and is followed by Prisoners of Fate which is, I’m afraid virtually unlistenable to my ears because of the lack of a real melody and a lead vocal that is all over the place. 

We are then presented with Echoes of the Past, which is the standout track and shows how good the band can be. It’s quite a modern sounding track but is ridden with guitars and hooks and is followed by Elegy, which is in three parts all of which keep the momentum going before Legend brings proceedings to a grim finale. 

The Dark Side is not without its moments especially Echoes of the Past yet I feel that many won’t be able to get past the vocals and I know that some out there can’t deal with heavily accented voices - is you can’t, avoid this like the plague.

Let us know your views on The Dark Side

Track Listing

Invocation
The Dark Side
A Hero Reborn
Slaves Of Fear
Blood Brothers
Prisoners Of Fate
Echoes Of The Past
Elegy - Part I - Confrontation
Elegy - Part II - Light Between The Darkness
Elegy - Part III - Agony
Legend

Line Up

Daniel González - Vocals
Tino Hevia - Guitar
David Figueiras - Guitar
Pedro Junquera - Bass
Ana Fernández - Keyboards
Rafael Yugueros - Drums