Album review: LANDMVRKS – The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been

Pressure creates diamonds, as the saying goes, but what if the pressure’s too much? After 2021’s third album Lost In The Waves brought LANDMVRKS a rapid influx of new fans and increased attention, they aspired to outdo themselves on the follow-up but found themselves daunted by the weight of the challenge. Then they found a silver lining – though burnt out and uninspired, they had an overflowing well of emotion to draw from.

They make no attempt to blunt their struggles with a thick wall of overly glossy production – the emotion that spills out as they diarise their pain is potent and acute. As frontman Flo Salfati’s voice wavers when he sings, ‘Of all the places that I've seen / And all the monsters in my dreams / It feels like the darkest place that I’ve ever been,’ it becomes obvious that they represent something raw and real. Then, he lets out a larynx-tearing scream, and simultaneously the record becomes not just about catharsis, but the reclamation of power.

Along with that, LANDMVRKS have a huge amount going for them. Obviously, there’s their knack for a towering chorus – see the turbulent Creature or the rippling melodies of Sulfur – but they’ve also leaned into a skill few bands have: a knowledge and aptitude for French hip-hop. There’s no aping the neanderthal aggression of textbook nu metal (though The Great Unknown does heavily imply they had Linkin Park posters on their walls growing up, but not to their detriment) – Flo’s slick, agile Francophone verses are unbelievably satisfying whether you understand a word he’s saying or not. Sombre 16 valiantly embraces hip-hop and pulls it off effortlessly, while La Valse Du Temps dovetails into a mournful, piano-led take on the genre and Blood Red beautifully synthesises the opposite poles of their sound.

LANDMVRKS were bruised for a while, but never broken. They created that diamond from the pressure after all, while offering a genuinely refreshing, innovative take on a saturated sound. Lost faith in metalcore? This lot might just make you believe in it again.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Polaris, While She Sleeps, Linkin Park

The Darkest Place I’ve Ever Been is out now via Arising Empire

Read this: Demons, hip-hop and redemption: Inside LANDMVRKS’ “painful” new album