Darkest Hour (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses of the words "darkest hour" see Darkest hour (disambiguation)

Background information
Origin	Washington, D.C.
Genre(s)	Metalcore[1] Melodic death metal[2][3]
Years active	1995–present
Label(s)	Victory
Website	www.darkesthour.cc
Members
John Henry Kris Norris Mike Schleibaum Paul Burnette Ryan Parrish

Darkest Hour is a melodic death metal band from Washington, D.C.. Their 2007 album, Deliver Us debuted at number 110 on the Billboard album charts, with sales of 6,600.^[4]

Contents 1 History 2 Members 2.1 Current 2.2 Former 3 Discography 3.1 Major releases 3.2 EPs 3.3 Splits 3.4 Other 4 Trivia 5 References 6 External links

[edit] History

Darkest Hour formed in 1995^[5] and initially consisted of vocalist John Henry, guitarist Michael Schleibaum, bassist Raul Mayorga and drummer Matt Maben.

The band released its first EP titled The Misanthrope in 1996 on a local label called Death Truck Records. In 1999, Darkest Hour released another EP titled The Prophecy Fulfilled on another label called Art Monk Construction. The addition of second guitarist Fred Ziomek, bassist Billups Allen and drummer Ryan Parrish saw the band release their first full-length LP The Mark of the Judas in 2000, on the now-defunct M.I.A. Records.

The Mark of the Judas was not widely promoted or distributed due to M.I.A. Records going out of business not long after the album's release.

Despite the fact Darkest Hour were left without a label, the band garnered enough exposure to catch the attention of Victory Records. Their Victory debut So Sedated, So Secure was released on August 7, 2001. After the release of the album, Billups was replaced by Paul Burnette and Ziomek left the band. The album was re-issued by Victory on March 7, 2006, and featured new artwork, re-mixed audio, re-recorded vocals and additional tracks.

The band continued to tour with Schleibaum's longtime friend Mike Garrity, filling in on lead guitar duties. Eventually, they accepted Parrish's old friend, Kris Norris as the new lead guitarist, and then began to write their next record.

While Garrity was the guitarist, the band was arrested and jailed in Roland, Oklahoma for alleged marijuana charges, also for "illegally imported" beer and for an open beer can. They were fined for $6000; Schleibaum was able to pay for himself, Burnette, and Garrity. Ryan and John had to stay for a couple of hours while the rest of the band had to get money to bail them out.^[6]

Their second release Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation was released on May 20, 2003. Produced by well-renowned Swedish record producer Fredrik Nordström, the album signaled a shift from the band's previous metalcore style to a more melodic death metal style. As a result, the album gained strong mainstream attention, to the point where they were asked to participate at Ozzfest 2004. Notably, the album contained political lyrics, with several songs criticizing American militarism post-September 11. The album was re-issued by Victory on July 13, 2004, with a bonus song and an additional DVD containing bonus material.

Darkest Hour released their fourth full-length LP Undoing Ruin on June 28, 2005. The album was produced by Devin Townsend (Strapping Young Lad) at Greenhouse Studios in Vancouver. The album was the band's first to enter the Billboard 200 charts, debuting at #138 with first week sales of 8,484.^[7]

In early 2007, the band was in Vancouver to work on their next record with Townsend. On March 7, 2007, Victory Records issued a press statement confirming the title of the album was Deliver Us; it was released on July 10.^[8]

The band recently played in the 2007 Sounds of the Underground tour alongside GWAR, Shadows Fall, Chimaira, Every Time I Die, Job for a Cowboy, Goatwhore, The Devil Wears Prada, The Number Twelve Looks Like You, This is Hell, Amon Amarth and The Acacia Strain.

Now, they will be taking part in a European tour with As I Lay Dying and will return to the U.S. to participate in Unearth's headlining tour.

The band has just finished their last tour date with Unearth at Toad's Place in New Haven, CT on October 28, 2007. They played along with Suicide Silence, August Burns Red, and Unearth before heading overseas to perform a string of headlining dates in the United Kingdom. In early February, the band done a U.S. headlining tour with Cephalic Carnage, Emmure and Whitechapel as support.

Recently they made an entrance song for NHL team, Washington Capitals entitled Let's Go Caps.

Later in July, they will be part of At the Gates' last U.S. tour entitled "Suicidal Final Tour" along with Municipal Waste.^[9]

For summer of 2008, following the recent The Black Dahlia Murder tour through South America, Darkest Hour will play at Quito, Ecuador and Bogota, Colombia on July 7 and 8 respectively before returing back to the USA.

In the 2005 documentary Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, Darkest Hour and a number of other bands including Shadows Fall, Lamb of God, Chimaira, Killswitch Engage, Unearth, and God Forbid are all listed under the category "New Wave of American Metal" in the "metal genealogy chart".

The band have also visited Philippines as the part of Summer Slam 8 along with great acts from Philippines.

[edit] Members

[edit] Current

• John Henry – Vocals (1995–present), Guitar (Only on live performances of Veritas, Aequitas)
• Kris Norris – Lead guitar (2001–present)
• Mike Schleibaum – Rhythm guitar (1995–present)
• Paul Burnette – Bass guitar (2001–present)
• Ryan Parrish – Drums (1999–present)

[edit] Former

• Matt Maben - Drums (1995–1999, Featured on The Misanthrope and The Prophecy Fulfilled)
• Raul Mayorga - Bass (1995–1999, Featured on The Misanthrope and The Prophecy Fulfilled)
• Billups Allen - Bass (1999–2001, Featured on the untitled split 7", The Mark of the Judas and So Sedated, So Secure)
• Fred Ziomek - Guitar (1999–2001, Featured on the untitled split 7", The Mark of the Judas, So Sedated, So Secure and Where Heroes Go to Die)
• Mike Garrity - Guitar (2002, Did not appear on any recordings, as he was a temporary replacement between Fred Ziomek and Kris Norris)
• Tommy Gun - Guitar (2001, Filled in for the band between Fred Ziomek and Mike Garrity. He later founded the band Immortal Avenger.)
• Kevin Lamiel - Bass (1995, Also played very briefly with the band)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Major releases

Date of Release	Title	Label	Billboard Peak	Notes
July 19, 2000	The Mark of the Judas	M.I.A	-	Debut album, out-of-print.
August 27, 2001	So Sedated, So Secure	Victory	-	Album re-issued March 7, 2006
May 20, 2003	Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation	Victory	-	Album re-issued July 13, 2004
June 28, 2005	Undoing Ruin	Victory	#138	-
October 3, 2006	Archives	A-F	-	Re-issue of the band's first two EPs
July 10, 2007	Deliver Us	Victory	#110	-

[edit] EPs

• The Misanthrope (1996), Death Truck
• The Prophecy Fulfilled (1999), Art Monk Construction

[edit] Splits

• A Split Seven Inch (1999) Split with Groundzero, East Coast Empire
• Where Heroes Go to Die (2001) Split with Dawncore, Join the Team Player
• Split Seven Inch (2004) Split with Set My Path, April 78

[edit] Other

• Party Scars and Prison Bars: A Thrashography (DVD, 2005)
• Untitled DVD sequel (DVD, TBA)

[edit] Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Darkest Hour's "Marching to the Killing Rhythm" off Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation is featured on the movie The Big Bounce starring Owen Wilson. The song is played in the movie for a total of seven seconds.

• Darkest Hour "Played in the Pulp Summer Slam VII(Forever) With Mahatma, and Rex.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Darkest Hour official site
• Darkest Hour (band) at MySpace
• Darkest Hour at Allmusic
• Kris Norris' Official MySpace