Album Review: Game Over – When Darkness Falls
Reviewed by Rich Sargeant
Rising to the top from the sadly unheralded Italian thrash scene Game Over present their seventh LP following the release of last year’s effort ‘Face the End’, ‘When Darkness Falls’ releases 18th September through Scarlet Records.
Game Over are a band that have consistently produced no frills 80’s thrash worship for nearly twenty years and ‘When Darkness Falls’ is no different. Vocalist Danny Schiavina sounds very reminiscent of Phil Rind from Sacred Reich with a gruff but melodic style that helps Game Over stand out amongst the rest of the pack.
Opening as all great thrash albums should with an acoustic minute long intro ‘Hollow and Cold’ before bursting to life with ‘Two Souls – One Flesh’ a bruising track replete with vicious riffs and big gang vocal breakdowns.
Unfortunately, the album then gets a little lost in the sauce with a few middling tracks that while not outright bad do not do much to grab the attention before a perfectly placed mid-game spoken word interlude ‘What Fate Brings’ leads into the excellent Dungeons and Dragons campaign inspired chugfest ‘Curse of Strahd’.
The B-side of the album picks up the promise shown in the opening track. Special attention must be given to ‘Self Denied’ which is a pummelling track almost begging to be added to future live setlists with the closer ‘Command to Die’ checking off another staple on the modern thrash bingo card sampling the “You can’t handle the truth” speech from A Few Good Men mid song.
Overall, ‘When Darkness Falls’ offers up a very solid if predictable slab of modern thrash clocking in at just over 32 minutes means it doesn’t outstay it’s welcome. While Game Over aren’t threatening to reinvent the wheel, they are more than happy to ensure it keeps turning and keep the fires of one of metal’s longest standing genres burning a little while longer. Best served with a couple of cold beers, a pizza and an old pair of Reebok hi-tops.
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