Australia is not commercially famous for its plethora of Metal bands. This does not necessarily means there's not enough Metal material down there to swallow in joyance. Maybe the veil of AC/DC has eternally covered a whole volcano of bands ready to kick your ass or it's just that the country of Oz is too distanced - geographically speaking - from the strategic points of decision in the Music industry, who knows...with the Word Wide Web's help distance are now diminished and it's no wonder Aussie bands started (the last years) having their name heard in Europe or across the whole globe.

DARK ORDER hails from Sydney and has been around for more than a decade (see?), having already released two full-lengths before this year's "Cold War Of The Condor" CD. They have chosen to preserve their Thrash Metal ideology, having the 80s classic principles as a basis, but they do enrich their sound and compositions with various other elements from simplified Heavy Metal to efficient Death Metal. The production is not as modern as someone may assume; it's actually an amalgam of the analogue live feeling of 80s Thrash mixed with some more disciplined today's frequencies. The album clocks to nearly 80 minutes and that's quite a enticing decision from the band. They still have a really good reason for this, since "Cold War Of The Condor" has its own concept centered around the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile (from September 1973 to March 1990 - read the story here if you like).

The music ties well with the story narrated; hence there are vicious fast parts present along with 'mourning' slower sections pumping in and out. The overall vibe of the album is not that warlike; it mostly sounds like an inspection or consecration of/for what went on during those really difficult times for the (now established) Chilean democracy. "Cold War Of The Condor" is not an easy album to deal with; it's quite technical and, bearing in mind the variety of atmospheres needed to picture the lyrics concept, results in needing your sole attention at least for the first couple of auditions. Having the lyrics stories available (some parts are in Spanish or something relevant I think) would be of great help in order to judge the songlist's value more smoothly. Still, in terms of style/sound, we could briefly say that DARK ORDER presents an enigmatic/revolting gloomy Thrash (with a little bit of Power or Death) Metal blend and let's say bands instantly popping up while listening to this new CD included politicized SACRED REICH, malicious OVERKILL, NEVERMORE, MORGANA LEFAY, mid-pace SUFFOCATION, paranoid SLAYER or 'weird' SEPULTURA.

I believe with the presence of a normal booklet by your side you'll relate more correctly to the music in this new DARK ORDER CD. Hence, add on point in the grade in this case. Else, the ambitious effort the Australian band is presenting here is not bad at all but it sadly shows enough signs of artistic managing incompetence. On the other hand the musicianship is in a more than adequate level, plus the overall shaping of the album shows a mature conscious band. I'll surely check this release again and again - especially as soon as it's officially out - since it's again said it needs enough time to spend to in order to evaluate its potentials properly.