• Track Listing

ALBUM FAQ What is the album about? The album blends perfectly into the existing discography of the band. Following "Death Squad", "Defenders Of Justice" and "The Gasoline Solution", "First Class Violence" is the next step and another missing piece in the puzzle that helps you to see the world through the angry and desperate eyes of DARKNESS Why the album title "First Class Violence"?Well, back in the days, when DARKNESS started playing thrash, you often had to dirty your hands if you wanted to commit violence. Nowadays, it's a lot easier: Violence without direct contact with the victim. When someone does not share your opinion, you send them a drone and go fine dining afterwards. Violence without any side-effects. "First Class Violence", if you will! The album was recorded at Rambado Recordings. Why? While writing the songs, we all agreed that we want to invest in the production. After we signed with Massacre Records, we started searching for the perfect studio. We found one nearby, since Corny's studio is also in Essen, where the latest records of Disbelief, Onkel Tom or Sodom have also been recorded What can you tell us about the cover artwork? The cover follows a storyline. If you arrange the artwork from "Death Squad", "Defenders Of Justice", "The Gasoline Solution" and "First Class Violence" in chronological order, you'll understand what it is about. You recruited well-known guest vocalists. What is this all about? This year marks the 20th anniversary of the death of our late vocalist Olli. The album includes a memorial song in his honor. Mr. Angelripper and Ventor insisted on contributing something to honor their late companion and friend Famous last words? Listen to the songs and turn it up to 11... if you dare BAND BIOGRAPHY: The thrash metal commando DARKNESS is hailing from Essen (Altenessen), Germany, which was one of the most creative hot-spots of thrash, besides the Bay Area, in the 1980's. Formed in 1984, the band made a name for itself with the demo releases "Evil Curse", "Titanic War" and "Spawn Of The Dark One". From 1987 until 1989, DARKNESS released 3 studio albums. The debut, "Death Squad", is considered as a thrash classic and helped the band gaining a cult status in the thrash scene. It got a bit silent around the band in 1991. Seven years later, vocalist Olli tragically passed away. Just like other veteran metal bands, DARKNESS underwent some line-up changes: Long-time band members Lacky and Arnd started looking for a stable line-up to start a comeback. They recruited guitarist Meik in 2013. Arnd passed the microphone on to Lee in late 2014, since he wanted to focus on playing guitars and background stuff. In 2015, Dirk stepped in for Christian "Spessy" Giesler on bass, because the latter was no longer able to fully commit to DARKNESS due to his main job at KreatorFollowing the Keep It True Festival, and especially since 2014, DARKNESS played at well-known festivals like Turock Open Air, Storm Crusher Festival or Ruhrpott Metal Meeting. They also played numerous club shows and proved what DARKNESS stands for: Old-school thrash - brutal, fast, uncompromising and mean! "The Gasoline Solution", released in 2016, is a worthy successor to the classics "Death Squad" and "Defenders Of Justice". Now, in 2018, DARKNESS is back with a bang and the new album "First Class Violence".