The European bands have really jumped on the goth metal bandwagon more so than their US counterparts. One of the things that makes them successful at it is that they always throw some melody in there where as many of the US bands forego the whole goth thing and just concentrate on being the heaviest band. I just recently heard the latest from the Foreshadowing and although it wasn't all bad, Dark The Suns got right what they got wrong. The biggest positive difference is that Dark The Suns are able to create an album that has a thematic sound yet still change tempos to keep the listener interested.

Dark The Suns definitely starts with metal as the core sound and then they add the goth elements on top. This is what keeps them heavier than something like Evanescence who start with goth and then add a little metal in there. Mikko Ojala uses the "cookie monster" vocal style that is very popular now but occasionally he goes into a haunting softer vocal that creates a cool effect. He also has a guitar sound that is not that far from Evergrey and many of the tracks have that crunching riff style. Markus Lehtinen definitely likes to cut loose and he provides some power metal drumming especially on "Black Sun". He keeps a solid beat throughout along with bassist Inka Tuomaala but Juha Kokkonen's keyboard playing is really the stand out piece. I use the term keyboards but really it is more of a piano sound and it gives In Darkness Comes Beauty its goth melodies. The stand out cuts on this disk are "Alone", "Angel Soul", and "Ghost Bridges".

In Darkness Comes Beauty is one of those releases that grows on you and with each repeated play, you will notice new things within the songs. Even though I have used to the term "goth" throughout this review, don't write off the band because there is a solid metal core to all of the tunes. They just add that little bit extra to keep things melodic enough to set themselves apart from the other "dark" metal bands. I have not gone through the Firebox Records roster but if the bands that they sign are of this caliber, then I will definitely have to check out more of them.