Darkest Hour release their ninth full-length album, "Godless Prophets & The Migrant Flora", on March 10 via Southern Lord Recordings.
The 12-song album was part of a crowd funding campaign that the band launched earlier this year, with the ultimate tally netting the band well over 100% of the initial goal and allowing them to also create an album beyond their initial expectations. The band chose producer Kurt Ballou (High on Fire, Nails, Converge) for “his obvious genius” (as guitar player Mike Schleibaum said) and recorded the release at Ballou’s Godcity Studio. Artist Shaun Beaudry was commissioned to create a custom painting, giving the album a unique visual identity.
“Working at Godcity was the perfect vibe for this record and Kurt was everything we could have asked for in a producer,” said Schleibaum. “The passion and experience he brought to the whole album really shows.”
Darkest Hour have since partnered with Southern Lord Recordings, which Schleibaum discussed, saying “The band has a long history of working with Greg and Southern Lord, who originally released the vinyl version of The Mark of Judas. While working with Kurt, we became reacquainted with Greg. We’ve always respected Greg’s work ethic, creative prowess and steadfast dedication to quality.”
“Southern Lord is beyond stoked to be working with long time favorites Darkest Hour on their upcoming album! Their tasteful, seamless fusion of hardcore and metal as well as never ending dedication to underground music is both admirable and praise worthy,” said Southern Lord founder Greg Anderson.
The band talks about the new album, crowd funding and the partnership with Southern Lord in the first of an ongoing series of podcasts, which can be heard here: http://dhradio.libsyn.com/ and http://apple.co/2htDn5v.
Darkest Hour now share a second song from the 12-track album, streaming "Timeless Numbers" below.
"This song, like 'Knife in the Safe Room', has a dual meaning," explains Darkest Hour guitar player Mike Schleibaum. "The first is the continuation of the story line that permeates the album. In this track we see our main character struggle with the inherit history of the culture he/she was brought up in and the realization that it was always in our nature to divide and consume ourselves.
"In simpler terms, it is a reflection on the drain of modern life and the subsequent division / internal destruction that this life seems to always lead humanity towards. As we travel the world, we have seen how no matter where you are, humans divide themselves. We interact with immigration policies, boarders and barriers that are cultural, economic, and political everyday that we are on tour. While traveling the world we have done our best to spread a message of anti-nationalism, unilateral respect for humans of all forms, and lastly the basic idea that music/art is more powerful and more eternal then religion, nation states, or even technology!"
- Knife in the Safe Room
- This is the Truth
- Timeless Numbers
- None of This is the Truth
- The Flesh & The Flowers of Death
- Those Who Survived
- Another Headless Ruler of the Used
- Widowed
- Enter Oblivion
- The Last of the Monuments
- In the Name of Us All
- Beneath It Sleeps