Darker Days

Never heard of this band, but I was surprised by the clean, catchy sound of this album. Definitely a mix of the classic US Metal sound of the early '80s like Riot or Metal Church with the more glossy Euro sounds of bands like Sortilege or Helloween. This has a lot of sharp riffs and playing, even if the songwriting and recording are a little rough. The whole thing presents as charmingly unpolished and has a rough-and-ready sound to it. This band clearly has the chops to make something slicker, but this is the sound they went for, and they nailed it.