Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
There is more to the Bay than you might remember, certainly more than what many new fans of the thrash era genre might believe ever existed, for where there is for many only The Black Album to delve into, it is in The Dark Parade that the music comes alive.
It is not hard to see why Mordred were an exception to the well-heeled rule that the Bay area expected to be followed during the explosion of the genre, for a start, the fact that they defied expectation by fusing groove/funk into their rich explorative sound is more than enough to hold them up as, if not unique, then at least exclusively uncommon; and yet somehow the fact that their latest release is the first new full length studio album from the band in 27 years is not lost in amongst the reminisce and sepia coloured glasses of the fans.
In The Dark Parade, the memories of those burgeoning explosive times when the world found itself in thrall at the scene that was ready to take on the world and reduce NWOBHM to a point where it seemed more akin to a Sunday school outing to a cathedral for choir practice, are reopened and found to be re-energised, re-focused and ready once more to silence the critics who insist that such a blend of diverse music cannot work.
It may have been more than a quarter of a century since the release of The Next Room, but the band haven’t been silent since they reformed, and The Dark Parade follows swiftly on from last year’s Volition E.P.; so much so that the join between the two spans the decades with a sense of regal, matchless distinction.
Through tracks such as Demonic, Malignancy, I Am Charlie, the album title track of The Dark Parade, All Eyes On The Prize and Dented Lives, Scott Holderby, Art Liboon, James Sanguinetti, Danny White, Aaron Vaughn and Jeff Gomes have once more reiterated just how important they are to the time they once inhabited, and the place they now find themselves exploring, a place where The Dark Parade is more than just a new album to celebrate, but is a sense of dynamic occasion that makes life once more exciting.
Mordred release The Dark Parade on July 23rd on M-Theory Audio.
Ian D. Hall