ALBUM REVIEW: Veritas - Darkest Days, pt I

VERITAS (Sweden)
"Darkest Days, pt I"
(The Trip Records)
Release date: August 3rd 2019
Genre: Melodic hard rock/metal
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VERITAS is a quartet from Sweden that has been featured on this blog once before, when I had a little chat with singer Rasmus. You kan read the interview here.

A few months have passed, and time has finally come for these Swedish fellows to release their first EP. A few of the tracks on "Darkest Days, pt I" have already been available as singles, and anyone who has lent an ear to VERITAS should know what they are all about by now.

"Wings" is the opening track, and after a few seconds of what sounds like a musical box melody played on clean guitars, the band fires away with a brutal and heavy groove where the main riff is played on an 8 string guitar. It's massive, tight, melodic and aggressive at the same time, and my mind is drawn towards mentioning references like Chevelle, Pantera and even Mastodon. In some places I'm even hearing hints of Linkin Park, but VERITAS are more focused on maintaining the melody rather than the exaggerated aggression.

"Darkest Days" starts off a little faster than the opener, with a riff that strikes me as similar to the main riff from Megadeth's "Symphony of Destruction", without further resemblence. VERITAS are great at creating groovy riffs and catchy choruses with high singalong potential, and though they're maybe not the most innovative band in the world, they do still have a refreshing sound that makes you pay closer attention to the details in their playing.

"Fury" is the shortest track on the EP, but it doesn't take this Swedish four piece more than just a few seconds before the song weighs a ton. This is the only track that has not yet been released as a single, and therefore I looked forward to hearing this one.

"The End" is a bit of a longer track, clocking in at almost six minutes, and features a lengthy ambient piano intro. The rest of the song is very similar to Chevellesque riffing and melodies, but as with the other references that come to mind, VERITAS have a heavier and more massive sound.

"Mystery of Life" is a lot like "Wings" in riff and song structure, with another chorus that for any VERITAS fan is mandatory to sing along to in a live setting.

If you already had a listen to the singles the band has released since last year, you already know what you have coming for you when you start listening to the five tracks that make up VERITAS' debut. They label themselves as melodic hard rock, but with the extra depth of an eight string and the collective ability to create catchy and groovy music with strong vocal abilities on top, you get something unique. You get VERITAS.

★★★★★★★☆☆☆

Tracklist:
1. Wings
2. Darkest Days
3. Fury
4. The End
5. Mystery of Life

VERITAS:
- Rasmus Harnesk Wiklund, vocals
- Jens Tjärnström, guitar
- Daniel Häggström, bass.
- Per Karlsson, drums.