THE DARK OVERLORDS in a Blackened Death metal trio out of Denmark. Where in Denmark? Dark Brutal Denmark where the heaviest of metal is made, or at least where these lads make it. On February 20, 2021 they released their debut EP, "I Am the Dark Overlords." Yeah, I know, the "I" suggests singular and then the "Overlords" bit says plural. Maybe the Danes have a different view on case than English. And speaking of grammar, did you know that things from Denmark are referred to as danish, but people from Denmark are called Danes. The things you learn in metal reviews.

The band members - Overlord #1, Overlord #2 and Overlord #3 - are distinguished only by the instruments they play and the fact that they occupy different space. I figure they're either doing the whole dark mystique thing, or they have day jobs and don't want to be implicated as nefarious metalheads. My bet, however, is they're not new to the metal scene. These guys are just too good for this to be their first go round. But then again, they are overlords.

The EP only has thee tracks, but as they average about six minutes each, we get a solid 19 minutes of metal. From the melodic acoustic opening you get the sense that this album is going to deliver some high quality something. As it turns out that minute or so of mellow thrumming, as good as it is, is the only appearance of mellow anything on this album. The rest is distorted riffs, shrieking, and blast beats . . . but this isn't lo-fi, recorded-in-the-cellar stuff, this is well-produced, well-composed, well-executed Blackened Death Metal.

Thematically it's death, the end of the world, and demons in that order. Best tracks are tracks one, two, three pretty much in any order you want them in. Personally, I'd call it in reverse: tracks three, two, one. The only downside to the album is the absence of tracks four, five, and six. Although all the tracks are excellent, I have to say the first minute of track three, "Region of Demons," is completely mind-blowing. And the rest is pretty damned good too, but that opening is just metal nirvana.

Overall, this is an incredible debut. I'm sure more about who these three are and where they have been, musically speaking, will come out soon. Where they should be going, however, is obvious - right into your metal manic brain. Hopefully, with COVID in its death throes, they'll also be going to stages across Europe soon. Until then, you can find them on Bandcamp and at the Uprising! Records site.