Darko (US) - Starfire (Album Review)
Darko (US) – Starfire
Released: June 5, 2024
Lineup:
Josh ‘Baby J’ Miller // Guitar, Drums & Programming/Mixing
Tom Barber // Vocals
Online:
If you know me, you know I love a preamble to get you revved up for a new release. Iconic modern deathcore duo Josh ‘Baby J’ Miller and Tom Barber are always expanding new horizons with their (not-so) sideproject Darko (US). Over the last few years, we’ve seen the two-piece yield shock value with unforgettable EPs Dethmask Pts. 1 & 2 and have appeared in numerous ‘album of the year’ lists with their self-titled LP followed by Oni not so long after.
With Barber holding consistency in Chelsea Grin throughout the lifespan of the Darko journey, Baby J has found his feet after leaving Emmure to join SPITE, and not long after leaving SPITE to focus on Darko, before finally joining Chelsea Grin with his other half as their full-time drummer. We know from doing a deep-dive with Barber, that this musical adventure is not going anywhere and this is only the beginning. It’s certainly worth stopping and reflecting that half of today’s Chelsea Grin is Darko.
Before embarking on Darko‘s third studio album, let’s also highlight the calibre of features they’ve secured on their rapidly growing back catalogue, including members from Dayseeker, Spiritbox, Left To Suffer and so many more. Their latest release Starfire exceeds an epic 70-minutes of inventive EDM/deathcore and includes members from Paleface Swiss, Silent Planet, Signs of the Swarm, Volumes and our very own Northlane. After hearing four tracks ahead of release day, it initially seemed like we were getting too much of a preview, but with the 19-track reveal, it’s so clearly the opposite. There are so many things that could be said about this record, so instead of trying to capture it all, I’m going to take you in via imagined experience.
The intro title-track sets the mood in true Darko style with a historic speech sample blending into the band’s deepest EDM efforts across their career to date. At first, your metal-heart may start to sink, but then Barber bursts in with the lowest tempo animalistic roar you might’ve ever heard from him. Darko are in their primitive/psychedelic-come-psychotic era; this is ‘Starfire‘. Time to start pouring away shots – or something stronger; pick your poison.
‘Distant World‘ is a smooth segue way into the early stages of this substance-induced dingy nightclub journey in what is offered up as what a foreign Asian capital city/metropolis landscape; set up sonically and visually through already released singles, album art and general aura. The Prodigy/Dethmask level EDM ensues with Barber’s sharp roar pounding alongside a bass reverb and Japanese overdub. Storm Strope, known from a few bands from over the years (Last Ten Seconds Of Life, RVST) appears after a sudden audio collapse and peels in with an embodiment of no other than Enya before Barber tornados back in against Baby J‘s unforgiving blast-beats.
After contemplating the best way to translate the visceral extent of Starfire, Iet’s continue embodying this whirlwind night out and the different stages that ensue. ‘Death Charge‘ is like that first-feeling when going underground from the streets. It sees Marc Zelli offer an alternate vocal style to what you’re familiar with across his average Paleface Swiss release, hyper-rapping and varying his guttural levels. Miller invites you into the Darko third world with the unique programming/guitar recipe that Barber loses himself in. The combination of the two deathcore vocalists is nothing short of stunning, and equally not overdone; however a warning for the gatekeeper/sub-genre purists.
After kicking off your night with an overindexation of strobes and flailing limbs, ‘5D‘ is the moment to catch your breath with a sensory homeostasis ahead of body-before-mind dance moves where Barber explores an emotive and more melodic vocal style heard less across his body of work and reminiscent to that of Marcus Vik of Invent Animate. It’s not long until that Darko alter-ego slips in; that ‘bad trip warning’ if the substance of choice aligns for this evening’s mind-bending experience.
‘Rampage‘ sees Darko sonically continue on from Oni and is the track where your energy is electrified and Hulk-like muscles start bursting through your shirt (hyper-confidence included). The single slots in perfectly with this perceivably concept album that’s best appreciated in its intended sequence. ‘Atomic Origin‘ is the one that all heavy music fans will consume greedily. With favourable mystery, intentionally heavy on the programming, Darko double-down on thematic aliencore, a direction that the duo have also dabbled in. Silent Planet‘s Garrett Russell enhances this weightless feeling of floating in space, with the sonic production that only your best headphones will capture. The Barber/Russell combo will have breakdown addicts obsessed. Are you peaking? Let’s find out.
‘Cry Baby‘ suspends you in the solar system Russell took you to in his spaceship, with Baby J strumming acoustically against Barber’s entirely clean vocal effort, mixed to deliver this incredibly smooth interlude where your trance is uninterruptable by the overly drunk dude spilling half his pint on your shoulder. This direction is unlike anything you’ve ever heard in heavy music, and whilst it can seem jarring at first, it once again accentuates Darko‘s ability to break the ceiling of heavy music and flourish in cross-genre effectiveness.
‘Chrome Moon’ is typical in exaggerating these statements as Baby J once again shifts the mood into an ultra-anxious hurricane without warning and back into electro sensory overload until you hear that deep breath before Barber bursts into a guttural hellscape. The Chelsea Grin vocalist showcases the best parts of his dual unclean vocal style on this one where he pairs the lows with spoken word shrieks. The bass-drops alone in this hyper-experimental track will spill blood into your retinas.
With the band making an even more explicit nod to the 2001 Sci-Fi Thriller film with the track title ‘Bunny Suit‘, you just know it’s going to be a fun one, and as we already knew – it’s absolutely psycho. With scratches and programming akin to releases like ‘The Fly And The Bee‘, the tune sees Miller and Barber continue to have the most fun possible without limitations. With angelic cleans crisping up, this single maintains the trance Darko‘s spun you into, just wait for the drums meet as the calm dissipates into a gruesome deathcore display of pandemonium. After finally calming in preparation for ‘Sora‘, the transition is seamless into a different mood once again.
Marcus Bridge takes on the track that you didn’t expect to hear at the club, but you’re so pleasantly surprised and elated to hear it. It’s what saves you before you start to slow down – you’re even hesitantly accepted another drink (or something else) from that friend of yours that knows your limits. Bridge capitalises on his capabilities of darling melodies in this spatial aura of openness, connectedness and a “galaxy of broken hearts”. It’s truly so fun to hear some vocal tones you mightn’t hear on a Northlane record.
It’s hard to believe we’re only really at the mid-point of a deathcore album when most records in this genre usually finish here. ‘Pleasures‘ charges into overdrive with a BPM you can’t catch. Your mind is racing and frazzled faster than you can make any rational decisions. Baby J steps into those crunchy riffs he’s been slicing across the record as Barber swings his gutturals through an electro-breeze chasm. Pivotally, ‘Mech Control‘ entrances the romantic before the spiralling tones take over as we’ve seen across the record.
‘Green Machine‘ is the heavy music collab you’ll be talking about for years to come. Barber sets the scene with that paranoid component of your drunken stupor/trip as Michael Barr breaks the carnage with his divine Volumes-esque hymns; and complementary instrumentation that follows (both early and later in the piece). Just when you think you’re back on the straight and narrow, Signs of the Swarm‘s David Simonich channels the dark inner sanctum of your amygdala with purposeful guttural energy, leaving remnants of anxious pleasure. The combination of Simonich and Barber is simply obliterating, and with a dash of Barr – it’s the collab you never knew you needed.
Sequencing into ‘Teardrop Sunshine‘ is a track that could pass as radio-friendly in the best kind of way and feature on your drive to work. This ambient tune gets you back in the headspace you’re hoping to be lost in on this long evening out, but you also might be starting to think about a kebab (or dumpling of some kind – you are seemingly floating in an Asian metropolis after all). The extent of Barber’s cleans on this track, and by extension the album is remarkable.
We were promised features galore and they sure have delivered. ‘Virtual Function‘ sees Scarlxrd join a feast of blisteringly heavy gutturals eloquently poised by Barber. The rapper adds a new dimension to this story with a different form of anxiety creeping in. With buzzing keytones and a vocal bouncing ball, Darko give you your second wind on what might’ve otherwise been the end of your night; you’ve still got a little bit more left in the tank.
‘Shanghai‘ encompasses the anecdote I’ve been riding throughout this piece, music video and soundbites included. Barber spins into a form of a hip-hop whisper-groove that we haven’t yet heard on Starfire before Baby J torpedos the drum n’ bass into this mesmerising energy that truly encapsulates the street-side underbelly you find yourself in. After a sixteen second interlude on ‘The Record Is Over Time For More‘, we hear where single ‘Finding Love in a World Full of Tragedy‘ fits into this mammoth Darko journey. Barber concludes his clean vocal delivery, showcasing unlocked potential to the heavy music community, who will be pleasantly stunned; it’s the ambient side of Darko that makes them the unique artist they’re known for.
Eclipsing your mind with an instrumental shoegaze closing act with ‘The Mother‘, you wander home with a lasting hum from the unexplainable experience from the inebriated evening. And finally, you can flick that light off and go to sleep; until the final thirty seconds where that bassy anxiety pokes your mind once more… was that even real?
The detail and nuances of this record are too much to even hear in ten full listens, let alone express. Everyone will find something special, different and unbelievable about this album. The only two criticisms of this record could be a) the duration – it might have been better consumed in two parts, and b) the thick variation of tempo and style may require a specific mindset to repeatedly listen to from front-to-back regularly.
In totality, Darko’s third LP Starfire is the hyperbole of outdoing themselves and exceeding expectations of their global fanbase. These two heavy music aficionados continue to burst through the glass ceiling of the genre, all while doing it completely independently.
Darko (US) – Starfire tracklisting
1. Starfire
2. Distant World feat. Storm Strope
3. Death Charge feat. Marc Zelli
4. 5D
5. Rampage
6. Atomic Origin feat. Garrett Russell
7. Cry Baby
8. Chrome Moon
9. Bunny Suit
10. Sora feat. Marcus Bridge
11. Pleasures
12. Mech Control
13. Green Machine feat. David Simonich & Michael Barr
14. Teardrop Sunshine
15. Virtual Function feat. Scarlxrd
16. Shanghai
17. The Record Is Over Time For More
18. Finding Love in a World Full of Tragedy
19. The Mother
Rating: 8.5/10
Starfire is out now. Stream it here
Review by Ricky Aarons (@rickysaul90)
