I am glad to be back after a weeklong bout with a vicious flu and ear infection. It's not easy to listen to music nowadays with an ear infection but I managed to listen to this EP while coming to work this morning.

This is the third EP and fifth release from the Northern Ireland Folk Metal Band. They began their career as the band NEMESIS, and in 2007, they decided to change the name of the band to DARKEST ERA. They have toured with a lot of bands throughout Europe like GLORYHAMMER, ALESTORM and ARKONA.

These are two unreleased songs from the band; I am not sure if they are leftovers from previous releases or just two new songs from the band. The information was not sufficient enough to get a definite answer.

The first song of the EP is ''An Dagda'', which means Good God in the Proto-Celtic language. This song begins with a Doom Metal intro and then turns into some good old classic Metal that sounded a lot like some MERCYFUL FATE or KING DIAMOND.  The vocals on this one are great; the guy's got some serious pipes and has a great range. The emotion is palpable and the guy sings his heart out. We have some really great guitar solos on this one, most of the time you can hear a twin guitar solo, which is pretty good.

The second song of the EP is ''Elohim'', which means God and is used quite frequently in the Hebrew Bible. This has a really nice acoustic guitar intro and does resemble their Folk music influences. I felt it sounded a bit like some TYR but a slower and smoother pace. The vocals are much more clearer in DARKEST ERA than TYR, nonetheless. The drumming is on point and the quality of the production is top notch for a pretty new album. It's incredible what the new technology can bring to the newer bands out there. I can also say that this song sounds a bit like the softer side of OPETH. The comparison can be made with the songs off of ''Damnation''; very acoustic, very smooth and full of emotion.

This a pretty good release from a band that should be known to greater masses. I really want to listen to the rest of their discography to give me a better vibe about this up and coming band.<