review by: Roberto Martinelli

A lot of people seem to be deeply enamored with this band, and I don't get it. When Nicke Grabowski, drummer of The Forsaken, was asked in his interview in Maelstrom who the best metal drummer in Sweden was, his first answer was "Peter Wildoer of Darkane"; Loana Valencia of Century Media is crazy for this band; I've read bunches of reviews and heard testimonials of people lauding this group as being terribly creative and interesting.

So why does it sound like the band is playing the same song over and over again? It's true that Darkane has achieved a signature sound with its use of vocals that are a mix of Slayer and hardcore, delivered with faux singing melody. Except, the vocals aren't really very good. Neither are the songs on this album, which invariably have no highlights to speak of.

And sure, Wildoer is a respectable drummer. But there's nothing on Expanding Senses that puts him at all apart from the legions of excellent drummers coming out of Sweden. The same goes for the guitarists.

Everyone has bands that for some reason, they just can't hear: even though you keep hearing that the band is all that, you can't empathize. In my case it's bands like Blind Guardian, Marduk and Darkane. But I know I'm not alone on this. The Condor will back me up and say that Expanding Senses sounds exactly like everything else Darkane has done. And although I personally think that the debut, Rusted Angel, is the band's best work, I can guarantee that if you liked Insanity, Darkane's previous album, you'll like this one, too.