Ahh… nothing like spinning some raw, bare bones, yet easily digestible metal after a long day of working your ass off. I’m talking about metal where the beat is found right away, the riffs are meaty, and the song structures are easy to wrap your mind around upon your first listen. New York’s After Dark is a young horror-influenced sludge metal band that achieves this sound by combining some truly meaty riffs, with harsh, raspy vocals, courtesy of singer Alex Dementia. Lyrically influenced by acts such as Alice Cooper and Rob Zombie, though with a presentation and actual sound somewhat closer to a mix of Black Label Society(minus the ripping solos) and Lamb of God(minus the complexity). While this 5 song EP the band has managed to put out does have its fair share of flaws, it succeeds in providing some ass-kicking songs while also displaying a nice amount of potential that lies in the future of After Dark.

Starting out strongly with God of the New Flesh, the mood of the album is set. Produced by band members Austin Lunn and Alex Dementia, the whole album has a relatively thick sound when compared to the bassless, hollow sounding demos most of us are used to. The first track starts out with a sweet intro riff, which leads into a head-bobbing mid-paced verse, which THEN leads into one of those choruses that simply separates the dead from the undead in the pit. Great groove is found throughout this song, and there is even a short South of Heaven-ish riff heard mid-section of the tune. After such a strong start, it is a bit disappointing that the next two songs, especially Suspiria, don’t match the same quality as the intro. Resurrection is the fastest song no the EP and has a noticeable hardcore punk influence. Though there is nothing particularly bad about it, it just doesn’t hold the same amount of groove or interest as some of the better songs on the EP. Suspiria without a doubt is the weakest track to be found on here, clocking in at over 5 minutes, it exemplifies some of the difficulties a metal band can face when playing at a painfully slow tempo. Not heartfelt enough to be considered a ballad, while not being heavy enough to be considered a ball-buster, (that honor goes to the next track) it painfully drags along, seemingly never reaching a climax that it needs desperately.

So after this stumble, Lost In a World of Ghost greets the listener with an echoing call-and-answer riff, before rolling into a chugging verse section. The chorus of this song is the heaviest part of this EP, with a thick octave-bending riff being churned out over a pounding rhythm, thanks to drummer Veronica Bellino. Closing song Blood Is Horror has a (metallically) swinging feel to it, and ends the EP on a heavy note.

Like a bunch of over-sized zombies that were resurrected with their blue collars on, After Dark like to keep it simple, heavy, and evil. The music is definitely suited more towards metalheads, though any fan of hard rock that can digest some harsh vocals should be able to find something to like here. If they can keep the energy as high as it is in the killing songs of this album, while trimming some of the fat (read: Suspiria) and adding in a few well-timed solos, they may have something worthwhile brewing here.