Mapping D.C. Metal: Darkest Hour

Map It  U Street-Cardozo 

FOR A BAND that's been together for 12 years and rocked metalheads around the world, it seems like the D.C. band Darkest Hour has received relatively little ink in the local press. Guitarist Mike Schleibaum confirmed that was the case.

But when confronted with the theory that there may be an imaginary force field surrounding D.C. that keeps both terrorists and twin-lead guitars out of the District (and out of the media), Schleibaum laughed but offered another theory.

"I think probably [it's] more that D.C. has a disconnect from heavy metal," he said. "There's really not a heavy metal scene at all. I'm sure there are a couple bands in Virginia that are playing metal, and there are bands in high schools all over Northern Virginia playing metal, just like Darkest Hour was doing. But to be from the city now, to be an established metal band — there's really none."

Well, there is one: Darkest Hour.

The quintet's latest CD, "Deliver Us" (Victory Records), is also its finest: A savage slab of in-your-face metalcore that captures all the group's strengths — knee-buckling riffs, eye-tearing guitar solos, pitbull-barking vocals and, yes, even a bit of melancholic melody — in a sonic setting that's more pristine than Darkest Hour's previous efforts. Producer Devin Townsend framed the band's music without covering up the big picture, yet some fans are already complaining about the group's slightly slicker sound.

"Some people like that; some people don't think it's a part of our identity," Schleibaum said. "The cleaner, the more produced it sounds, the more you can hear all the melodies and all the riffs and everything complex that's going on. On the older records, you couldn't really hear the whole idea because everything was so jumbled."

When Darkest Hour plays the 9:30 Club on Sunday it will be the culmination of a long North American tour, but Schleibaum said, "It's our first real chance to spread our wings and do a Darkest Hour headlining show like how we want to do it … This show in D.C., we're really stoked about it. It'll be really special."

» 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW; with Job for a Cowboy, Damnation AD, A Life Once Lost and Despised Icon, Sun., 7 p.m., $15; 202-265-0930. (U St.-Cardozo)

Photos by Jason Hamacher-lostorigins.com