Dark, The

Dark, The

Dressing The Corpse

Scat

***ON LIMITED CLEAR + BLUE VINYL!!! The Dark were a Cleveland hardcore / deathrock hybrid that in many ways was ground zero for The Guns, Spike in Vain, Knifedance, and several more beyond. For The Dark’s first ever vinyl album Dressing The Corpse, Scat has collected highlights from sessions recorded between 1981 and 1984 that range from savage post-punk (imagine Venom covering Warsaw), to raging exacto-knife thrashers, deathrock, and proto-black metal —there’s even the requisite creepy, atmospheric instrumental to open the album (“Beyond The Ice”)—which is naturally followed by “Fire In The Church.” Then things go other places, the group covered a lot of ground in its two and a half years and were always ahead of the curve. Although the band’s median age ranges from fifteen to seventeen across these recordings, the rhythm section is second to none. The guitar playing is way further afield than most hardcore bands of the era. Namesake vocalist Tom Dark howls like a wolf, and could command a stage like few others. To be fair, the band’s youth does make itself known in some of the lyrics, but otherwise you’d never guess this was just a bunch of kids—it needn’t be graded on a curve. The Dark had auspicious beginnings. They cut their teeth as The Decapitators in 1979, learning to play at the feet of the electric eels, Pagans, Dead Boys, and Cramps. After a year off, the four reformed to play only originals as The Dark, and almost immediately Mike Hudson...

Dark, The

All This And More

Puke N Vomit

***Available for the first time domestically a collection of all The Dark's singles 1979-1982 plus rare outtakes and live cuts. The Dark were a short lived UK Punk band that hailed from Islington, London. One of the more overlooked bands that bridged the gap from 77/78 punk to the sounds of 82UK Punk/Hardcore. Known for their catchy guitar driven sound and subtle and observant lyrics dealing with relevant political concerns of the time.