Darkest Hour- Suffer Divine (Album Review)

Darkest Hour hit the thirty-year mark in 2025, and there’s something to be said for the consistency they’ve had throughout their discography.  Originally the group had a bit more of a hardcore and metalcore sound but quickly pivoted towards melodic death metal and became one of the artists that defined the American take on the genre throughout the 2000s.  Each of Darkest Hour’s albums pulled from familiar ground, but some emphasized the speed and thrashier moments while others went all in on the melodic and more experimental side.  2024’s Perpetual | Terminal leaned a bit more towards metalcore and had a lot of mellower moments in between the faster attacks, but two years later the group has pivoted back towards the faster end of melodic death metal on Suffer Divine.  There’s a noticeably more aggressive slant with better paced transitions into the melodies, and it’s another later career highlight from this long-running act.

Perpetual | Terminal had its fair share of heavier, aggressive tracks, but its dips into melodic metalcore and some of the more subdued moments gave it a lighter feel compared to some of the band’s discography.  Suffer Divine makes it clear right from the start that it’s going to orient itself around speed and scorching riffing for much of its run, as after a noisier vocal driven intro “Gods of Decay” launches into the type of thrashy melodic death metal that Darkest Hour has done so well throughout their career.  Here the band operates like a well-oiled machine, seamlessly shifting between speed and mid-tempo sections without losing any intensity while also offering leads that stand out from the first listen.  Compared to its predecessor this definitely feels like Darkest Hour have gone back to the basics, peeling back some of the experimentation of recent years in favor of a more straightforward and consistently blistering approach.  But this doesn’t mean that they’ve gone for a fully uniform approach either, as songs like “Salvation” stand out thanks to a bit more shredding as well as the acoustic outro that gives listeners a chance to breathe and lets while also channeling a good deal of raw emotion.  “The Unforgiving Hand” also gives the guitars a chance to build up over a more somber soundscape before peaking with some more powerful riffing, and the way it progresses reminds me a bit more of traditional heavy metal.  The more straightforward approach does make a few songs a little hard to tell apart over repeat listens, but the sheer number of moments that have that wow factor makes Suffer Divine stand out and showcases the level of polish the band has at this stage. 

 Vocalist John Henry has been with Darkest Hour since the beginning, and even three decades in his performance is as intense and in your face as ever.  After you press play, you’re immediately greeted with some extremely distorted screams and growls on “All Cruelty Springs From Weakness” and the way the layers grow serve as a perfect lead-in to “Gods of Decay”.  Where some of the group’s discography has thrown some singing into the mix, here the focus is on the harsher side of the spectrum for almost the entire run and even when there are some anthemic choruses on songs like “No Conquered Hearts” things are still screamed/yelled.  This is also the case on “Tribalist” on the second half, which does get slightly cleaner but never goes into full-on singing and “Everyday Horrors” where you get some spoken word towards the end.  These are small touches rather than full shifts into other styles, but they add a bit more variety to the performance and make the material stronger.

Suffer Divine feels like it recaptures some of the speed and fire of Darkest Hour’s earlier days, offering some of their thrashiest and most consistently heavy hitting listens in a bit.  There are still some somber, more subdued moments, but they are used as additional flourishes that give listeners a chance to breathe rather than being a focus.  This more straightforward approach does make a few songs a bit harder to tell apart, but the sheer number of riffs and choruses that have stuck with me since that first time few make this an album with real staying power.  Considering how some of the other bands that have been around for just as long seem to be phoning things in at this stage, it’s clear that Darkest Hour still comes into new material with as much energy as they had in the past.  Suffer Divine is available from MNRK Heavy.

-Review by Chris Dahlberg