A new offering from the popular French metalcore outfit released on April 25th.

I know I said no more metal albums before Sleep Token drop ‘Even in Arcadia’… but this is turning into something of a classic year for heavier music. There was no way I could skip over this excellent new offering.

Landmvrks have been gradually building a fanbase since their formation in 2014 and are now approaching a million monthly listeners on Spotify alone, with their audience spread all over the world. They predominantly sing in English, though when explosive frontman Florent Salfati slips (in style) into rapping, he spits his flow in pure French. There are moments where favourable comparisons to peak Linkin Park can be made, though in general Landmvrks are a much heavier outfit. There is plenty here for fans of Polaris, Currents, The Ghost Inside and Make Them Suffer to get their teeth into.

About one minute into the opening (and title) track ‘The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Seen’ I was concerned this album was going to be awful as Salfati warbles awkwardly over some nondescript guitar… and then it bursts into life and everything is reassuring again. By the end you know this is going to be a committed performance of full-bodied metal. Next come the entire batch of released singles, all 5 tracks in a row. ‘Creature’ has Salfati rapping fantastically over a rat-a-tat drum beat, then as he slips from French into English screaming, “I am the creeeeeaaaaaatttttuuuurrrrrreeeee!” the entire track screams into life, a flurry of frantic guitar and concentrated, controlled sonic devastation. It came out about a year ago now with a superb Stranger Things inspired video. The story of ‘Creature’ then carries on through the rest of the videos for the later singles. In an age where music videos have become an expensive liability for many bands these ones demonstrate real artistry, wringing out every penny (or should that be euro cent) from their budgets.

‘A Line in the Dust,’ features the album’s only guest spots with While She Sleeps and Mat Welsh bringing in additional firepower. It is as great as anything on Knocked Loose’s outstanding You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To album from last year. ‘Blood Red’ switches things up by dialling up the melodies and the rapping. It gets better on every listen. ‘Sulfur’ changes direction again with a more industrial undertow but maintains the Chester Bennington-esqe choruses. You can see why these guys have been taken to hearts right the way across Europe and beyond.

Sombre 16 is absolutely brilliant but is criminally short at just one minute and ten seconds. I hope this gets some major remix work in the next few months as it could easily be an outstanding centrepiece rather than the short and sweet smack of hip-hop that it currently is.

The last five tracks are all unreleased. ‘La Valse du Temps’ (The Waltz of Time) genuinely starts with a beautiful waltz-esque intro before going huge. I really enjoyed ‘Deep Inferno’ but nearly every track on here is worthy of discussion. Final track ‘Funeral’ is a slightly odd note. It completes the narrative arc of the protagonist of the album and has a lovely piano melody, but the singing style returns to the start of the opening track and doesn’t quite do it justice. I kept expecting it to launch into some kind of My Chemical Romance rock opera but it never materialises.

This is yet another essential listen for metal fans for this year. Their only current UK dates are at Slam Dunk Festival on May 24th and May 25th. If you are going, they are most definitely one not to miss.