Christ Agony - Darkside

CHRIST AGONY - Darkside (HAMMERHEART - CD 1997)

The recent reissue of Christ Agony's fourth album "Darkside" was a good opportunity to remind myself this album, which I have not really listened to in a decade or even longer. Why I haven't played it for so many years? It's just never been my favourite Christ Agony album. I actually hated it. I do have a copy - not the reissue, but original 1997 Hammerheart Records version - but I kept it only to have a complete collection of Christ Agony albums, not because I really loved the album. My copy gathered dust only, but yesterday I finally decided to play it again. 

So, coming back to "Darkside" after quite many years was an intriguing and interesting effort. I had no idea if I will like it more nowadays? Will this more experimental effort from Cezar will finally convince me? And the answer is... No! I still cannot say much good about "Darkside". Maybe someone should blame the three previous albums for simply raising the bar much too high - especially "Moonlight" is an absolutely masterpiece - but this album is an extreme disappointment and I’m not really into its experimental side at all. Everything went wrong here, in my opinion, and the songwriting is not even half as good as on the previous albums. It is different album, with very different approach, but even those fragments, which are in the vein of old Christ Agony do not match the quality of previous classics. There are few good parts on "Darkside", too few, which sound pretty cool riffs. And I can say that there’s only one decent song, "The Triangle", which is also an opening track. Everything after it is a failure. 

One good song in more classic Christ Agony style is not the end of the world, but I just don’t like what Cezar did on “Darkside”. He decided to incorporate so many experimental ideas to "Darkside" that often the result of his performance is ridiculous. Take for instance clean vocals - most of them sound rubbish, they're really not good. I could barely stand how such "Heredity" and this weeping, sorrowful singing and atmosphere give me teeth ache. And "Dark Beauty" is even worse, WTF is this, some sort of poetic ballad? It reminds me some cheesy Polish rock bands from early 90's. Same shit level. There are also "Dark Poem" and "Dark Goddess", so it is way too fuckin much for me. And those techno bits? Seriously?! They sound like a joke and completely misplaced. Never would I expect such a bad idea from this band, never would I accept them, they sound just hilarious. I could accept the drum machine on the album, but techno is absolutely a nail to the coffin of "Darkside". 

I understand that Cezar wanted to experiment a little, maybe do a bit more personal album, which is why "Darkside" sounds so different to the previous albums. But I just don't like it. Few good fragments and a whole bunch of boredom, this is what "Darkside" is. Definitely the weakest of all Christ Agony albums. I put it back to the shelf for next ten years, let it be dusted and forgotten. I’m not even bothered about the new reissue of this album, why would I care? 

Standout track: "The Triangle” 

Verdict: 40/100