DARKNESS DESCENDS—Rockaway, NJ
Darkness Descends singer Angry Jay North recently reached out to me to check his band out for North Jersey Notes. In the email, Jay explained to me that Darkness Descends won The Break Contest two years in a row earning them an opportunity to play the Bamboozle Festival in 2010 and 2011. With a résumé like that, these guys must be awesome! So, I logged onto reverbnation.com/darknessdescends to give them a listen, and well, they’re a really good metal band! Singer Angry Jay definitely fits his nickname with his aggressive style of singing. Musically, on songs like “Dr. Doom,” “Dark Horse” and the title track to their upcoming CD, “Last Of A Dying Breed,” the music was definitely brutal!
Since their inception, Darkness Descends has created a unique sound and image, which has been gaining them a lot of attention lately. In the very short time that they’ve been a band, they earned the opportunity to perform at the Maryland Fall Brawl, the NEPA Metal Fest, and like I mentioned earlier, they were two-time winners of The Break Contest Battle of the Bands. Winning these battles earned them the opportunity to perform at The Bamboozle Festival in 2010 and 2011. They also performed at Darkness Fest 2011, Spinestock 2011, and the list goes on and on for this young band. Their fan base has grown considerably in a short amount of time due to these high-profile shows. Joining Angry Jay North in Darkness Descends are guitarists Chris Dean and Johnny Death, bassist Chuck Gowen and drummer Zaki Ali.
During the time that Darkness Descends spent performing in and around the Tri-State area, they worked on writing their first full-length, which they recently put the finishing touches on. The CD is going to be called Last Of A Dying Breed, and won’t be out until January of next year! You can, however, catch these guys live before their release date! Find out how by logging onto reverbnation.com/darknessdescends.
NORTH JERSEY NOTES UPDATES:
John Rango and Friends returns to the ReBar in Lodi, NJ, on Dec. 12 for the John Rango and Friends Holiday Show. John’s “friends” for this show will include drummer Jon Abate, guitarist Sean Faust, bassist Dan Hartmann, singers Laurin Pecoraro Apruzzese and Erin Byrnes Fernandez, and guitarist Sean Wolfle with another one of John’s friends, Brian Fitzpatrick, opening the night. This sounds like a great night!
The boys from Will Killmore seemed to have found a replacement for recently departed founding member James DiGangi. They’ve replaced him with North Jersey music scene newcomer Brian Kirkner! I say “newcomer” because he seems to have no history with any other bands on the scene, though, he must have chops if he’s going to be taking James’s place in Will Killmore. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill! For more info on the Will Killmore crew or to find out where they’re playing next, log onto willkillmore.com.
And finally, I’ll be making my debut with my new band Black Ocean this Saturday night (Dec. 10) at Dingbatz in Clifton, NJ, opening for A Pale Horse Named Death, which features members of Life of Agony, Type-O-Negative and Sekond Skyn. Also, performing that night will be my bros from BoundAlive, Lykken 21 and Cookiehead, so make your way down to Dingbatz this Saturday night for an amazing night of hard rock! For more info about my new project and our new CD, Sea Of Darkness, log onto blackoceanmusic.com.
That’s all for now! If your band is from North Jersey, and you want some exposure, send your press kits to Arts Weekly, c/o Tim Louie P.O. Box 1140, Little Falls, NJ 07424, or you can email me at tim@theaquarian.com, where you can also let me know where you’re performing next!
Just remember: We’re all in the same boat, so every little bit of exposure counts!
Tim Louie is the author of S**t Happens.
NJN Concert Calendar:
12/9—Rhythm Trip (reunion show)/Sic Flux/Mindswitch/Lionel Pryor/Purveyor—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/9—Evan Toth Band/Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes—Tarrytown Music Hall, Tarrytown, NY
12/9—A Pale Horse Named Death—Webster Hall, NYC
12/9—Steve Brown—Beachcomber Club, Seaside Heights, NJ
12/10—Borgo Pass—The Trash Bar, Brooklyn, NY
12/10—Kix/Spread Eagle/Trimm/The Dirty Stayouts/Circle of Insanity—Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ
12/10—A Pale Horse Named Death/BoundAlive/Lykken 21/Black Ocean/CookieHead—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/10—Doomsday Prophecy—The Irish, Kearny, NJ
12/10—Arch Demon/Spoonfed/Morningside Lane/Embrace Agony—The Blue Room, Secaucus, NJ
12/10—Steve Brown—Chakra, Paramus, NJ
12/15—Spoonfed—Fontana’s, NYC
12/16—John Rango and Friends—The ReBar, Lodi, NJ
12/17—Black Water Rising—Dingbatz, Clifton, NJ
12/17—BlackOcean—Sweeney’s Saloon, Philadelphia, PA
12/17—Kosmic Daydream—Bar East, NYC
12/23—Darkness Descends—Trash Bar, Brooklyn, NY
