Year: 2020
Total Time: 38:35
Label: Sleazy Rider

11 years have passed since the “Solfernus Path” and so the Polish goths from Katowice decided to record a new album and name it “The Philosopher At The End Of The Universe”, following the story of “Solfernus Path” adorned with a story from the book written by the leader of the band Rafal “Flauros” Goral with the valuable help of his friend -poet and novelist- Jesion Koval.

The classic dipole of male-female vocals is present now with Agnieszka “Nera” Gorecka embodying the dark female side, but not with great success to be honest. There’s something missing and combined with their unreasonable placement at the forefront of the band’s music – compared to the rest of the instruments – it just doesn’t sound right. Flauros does a great job, alternating his vocals in an exemplary way and is the one who tries to keep the bar high. The Gothic Metal symphony played by DARZAMAT lacks innovation and is full of cliches, but at least it is well played. The band is trying to introduce some progressive elements at the same time, but it only manages to confuse the listener more, who will eventually be met with flashbacks from the Gothic genre as it was presented in the 90’s, with clear elements from TYPE O NEGATIVE and MOONSPELL.

The production is good, if we exclude the issue with the voice of Nera who tries but does not reach the level of Sharon Den Adel or Floor Jansen or even Vibeke Stene, not to mention Mariangela Demurtas. It is a pity for a very interesting lyrical concept not to be followed by the equivalent musical background. I do not know if in their 11 years of absence, DARZAMAT worked on “Philosopher” or if they were more involved in various other personal projects. The Gothic fans will probably be excited about the return of DARZAMAT, but I was expecting something much more.

Rating: 5.5/10
Editor: Dimos Karadimos
Related Link: DARZAMAT – Official Page