Review published on amplifire worship

You know dark when you hear it. Slow, harsh, lo-fi. The German 4-piece Dartk Tharr has got it all. I love how the imminent funeral doom is alleviated with some stoner pentatonic licks and harmonic shifts. It withdraws the tension and fuels the excitement in an explosive and unexpected way. I love the delivery of the vocals, as the feminine growl always has a certain clarity to it. This is a great debut.

http://aworship.tumblr.com/post/55288010768/you-know-dark-when-you-hear-it-slow-harsh

Review published on doominaeternum

El cuerpo sabe arrastrarse a la perfección en el podrido mundo de la locura. Pero una locura donde la risa malévola baila a nuestro alrededor. Donde la suciedad, la profundidad y el caos juegan juntos en el patio inhóspito recreando música ensordecedora. Morir sin dejar huella en el mundo terrenal, es haber vivido en vano. Pasa lo mismo con la música. Las melodías se crean para quedarse grabadas a fuego en nuestras mentes, y a lo largo del inmenso tiempo, recordarlas, sentirlas y cantarlas, es uno de nuestros deberes. Al menos, para los apasionados de las oscuras notas. 

Esas notas de las que hablamos son traídas desde las tierras germanas. La marca que llevan sobre sus hombros, enseña que un grupo, unos músicos, unas personas, saben saciar su sed de navegar por el camino que uno mismo elige, a sabiendas de que en determinados momentos se note sus influencias, pero que sepamos ver que esa, esa banda que escuchamos en ese preciso momento, veamos que ellos son, en este caso, únicamente DARK THARR. 

Cortas pero hipnóticas son las canciones. Podría ser lo “único” negativo, sin ser negativamente malo, sino un simple comentario a la necesidad de más, de más temas infectos para poder sacrificar las horas de un estúpido día, y poder soñar, soñar con un mundo. Nuestro propio mundo. Sosegados son los momentos en que disfrutamos de esta banda. Una banda, exactamente en este disco, ya que hace muy poco nos hemos enterado de que ha habido cambios en sus filas (y de cambio voz. Una lástima), es capitaneada por mujeres. Pues sí. Puede que te haya pasado como a nosotros. Escuchar por primera vez a DARK THARR, y ni darte cuenta de que esa desgarradora voz, fuerte e impetuosa, era creada y diseñada por ella. Simplemente ella. Acompañada de más hormonas féminas deseosas a los instrumentos, exceptuando la masculinidad al bajo. Un conjunto estupendo. 

En 2011, nació DARK THARR, y su música. Mezcla de géneros, que sabréis descifrar si escucháis su primer álbum homónimo, lanzado hace unos meses. Dejaros llevar, dejar los brazos, sentid el cosquilleo de la pesadumbre subiendo por vuestras venas. Entonces, abrid los ojos y vuestra locura podrá ser libre. 

Tania. Thanks a lot for that nice review.

Review published by FUZE (#41)

Vor Kurzem wurde an dieser Stelle noch das erste Demo von DARK THARR als „Unsigned Review“ besprochen. Und obwohl die beiden darauf enthaltenen Songs ungemastert und damit quasi Soundrohlinge waren, ließen sie Großes erahnen. Dies liefert das Quartett nun mit dem ersten offiziellen Release ab. Fünf Songs und 35 Minuten mit klassischem Doom/Sludge, wie ihn WEEDEATER, EYEHATEGOD und IRON MONKEY großgemacht haben – die beiden Songs des Demos im neuen Gewand inklusive. Der Sound ist dick, vielschichtig und angenehm warm – unmöglich, sich nicht darin zu verlieren. Mit diesem Album haben die vier FreiburgerInnen den idealen Grundstein gelegt, um DARK THARR hoffentlich auf die nächste Stufe zu hieven. (Meta Matter)

Danke, Martin Schmidt

Review puplished on doom-metal.com

Absolute vacuum, utter emptiness or void seems to be a re-occurring theme in Doom Metal, as well as various other depressive genres of music. It is especially common in bands that lie in the Drone or Funereal realms of Doom, which perpetuate a feeling of hollowness through excruciatingly slow riffs, monotonous tunes, or unintelligible vocal performances. Dark Tharr succeeds in sounding desolate and empty, yet they do so to an extent that the performance itself becomes lifeless after a while. Raw and Nihilistic are two promising adjectives for an intense Sludge album, but intensity is what this album lacks. With a good bass tone and possessed vocal performance, the band has potential to really kick the listener’s ass. Yet, there is too little variation in rhythm patterns and riffs, which takes away from the power of the music. The drums sound fairly weak in the mix and stick to a comfortable mid-tempo beat throughout each song, while the guitar emanates a rusty and bleak essence that would be more than appropriate for a Stoner band. At times, the rhythm section grinds to a standstill, leaving the buzzing guitar to vibrate among ear-shattering feedback. Shades of Drone drift along at times, bringing to mind the intensely slow moments of Thou. Despite the less than powerful guitar and drums, there are some points of interest in the music. Although rasps and screams are characteristic for Sludge, the vocals add a layer of ferocity to the emotionless tracks. The sick shrieks are cruel and cynical, sounding truly damned and anguished. Even though it has become a bit too common to compare extreme female vocals based on gender, they lie close to the demonic rasps of ShEver and Grey. Another effective element, and perhaps the band’s best aspect, is their bass. The listener is treated to a deep, thick wall of sound that pounds alongside the guitar. It is utilized particularly well in ’Days of Despair’, in which its heavy movements are akin to Om’s distinctive usage of distorted bass. With the basic song structures, minimal variation in riffs and repetition of Stoner-inspired melodies, Dark Tharr almost begins to sound close to a less ambitious and more depressive sounding Weedeater. This simple and ritualistic approach would probably be greatly improved with a cleaner sound quality, and drums that weren’t buried so deep in the mix.

Thanks a lot, Dante Duvall!

http://www.doom-metal.com/reviews.php?album=2464

Review published by OX Fanzine (#108)

WEETEATER, GRIEF, SAINT VITUS, vielleicht sogar frühe EYEHATEGOD sind die ersten Namen, die mir sofort in den Sinn kommen, als das selbstbetitelte Debütalbum der Freiburger DARK THARR im CD-Schacht zu rotieren beginnt. Auch hier stehen die Riffs ganz im Zeichen der Langsamkeit, versehen mit einem muffig-schludrigen Gitarrensound und einem leicht schlabbernden Bass. Darüber thront eine Stimme, die zwar nicht ganz so abgefuckt klingt wie die eines Mike Williams (EHG), der seinerzeit sogar Glas gefressen haben soll, um noch krasser zu klingen, aber dennoch schön angefressen und knarzig daherkommt. Dass diese Stimme einer Frau gehört, fällt einem auf Anhieb noch nicht einmal auf. Wenn man es ganz genau nimmt, ist Bassist Stefan bei DARK THARR der einzige männliche Vertreter der Gattung Mensch, was jetzt zwar nichts Besonderes ist, doch zumindest mir jedoch in dieser Form noch nicht unterkam. Auf jeden Fall ein schönes Debüt, man sollte DARK THARR im Auge behalten. (7) Jens Kirsch

7/10 points

Thanks, Jens!

First review puplished on ninehertz

http://www.ninehertz.co.uk/viewitem/4220

When something appears with such dark imagery as Dark tharr's CD has, I get worried.

Is it nihilist black metal pedaled by a lone bedroom misanthrope again? Is it some teenage death metal? My hopes are often close to extinguished if I see a hint of goats, skulls or mysterious solitary figures these days. However, Dark tharr's lone goat skull man brings us some (skull)cracking doom and for this I am glad.

Coming straight out of Freiburg Germany, this five-track effort has that fist clenching and desperate groove you long for when people detune as much as this. Dark tharr are a 3/4 female proposition too, with just their bassist being able to grow a beard, I hope. This of course is nothing new, the likes of Monarch! and Thorr's Hammer have made it easy for women to bring the misery just as fat as men do. The vocals for example are the low, gravelly roar of a woman wronged it seems, satisfyingly croaky and throaty like.

The riffs wallow in that Eyehategod pool a fair bit, blues-influenced but so blue it looks black. The guitar has that tone that rings out over the nullifying bass work so many bands forget about. If I hear one amorphous blob of feedback and lack of clarity once more then I might, you know, get really angry with someone and have an extra biscuit or something. I don't do the angry thing very well do I? Well thankfully Dark thaar are here to reflect my mood, sombre and elemental.

You'll have heard this kind of thing before, but it's rare to get something so steadfastly proud of its bone-crunching simplicity that I've sat up and taken notice and you totally should too. On the off chance you're reading this in Germany, they appear to be rather deafening live and are playing with some amazing bands at the moment, Black Shape of Nexus for example. That tells you a lot about them to be honest, they're keeping excellent company. Listen you bunch of worms.

Thanks, Mike!