DYFN (Dark Years From Now) – De-Illuminate
DYFN (Dark Years From Now) – De-Illuminate
Self-Released
Release Date: 19/01/24
Running Time: 49:37
Review by Dark Juan
9/10
I was re-reading some old reviews so I could archive them recently and it is very surprising to me what I was allowed to fucking get away with when I started writing for Ever-Metal.com (and the other webzine I wrote for before this which shall not be named). At the time I was forbidden to give minus scores, but fucking did so anyway. Hopefully, one has matured somewhat…
Now, everyone knows that Dark Juan has a sense of humour that can only be described as “robust” (sick would probably be more accurate), but there are some things about which Dark Juan has no chill, and the abuse of women and children is one of them, due to both my work and the fact that I am a human being who has ethics, and to reduce the sexual abuse of women to a fucking stage name and to make a joke of it makes Dark Juan fucking sick, and more importantly, makes Dark Juan want the death penalty back just so he can apply for the job of Executioner, just so I can hang each and every sick fucker out there and laugh while I do it. I rather feel that I could easily justify myself to any deity of choice about that and avoid a trip to the basement where it is a bit warm. Old Nick comes near me, and I’ll rip his legs off and beat him to death with the wet ends…
Sorry. The record that is currently spinning upon the wunderwaffe that is the Platter Of Splatter ™ has got my fighting blood up and no mistake. It is an album by one Dan Potter, released under the name Dark Years From Now or DYFN. Dark Juan is raging against every machine he can right now, and it has caused Mrs Dark Juan to go upstairs and tell me to just go and join the fucking Communist Party or something.
Red Front!!!!
The music of DYFN is a complicated, multi-faceted beast. Twisted electronics and spasmodic, jerking guitar meets a vocal that can strip armour at 500 yards and is composed of spittle-flecked, wide-eyed jabbering and fractured, unusual polyrhythms. Djent meets Power Electronics and Hip-Hop and fuck knows what else. This is madness that has been distilled into a very specific, worrying focused musical form and to be honest Dark Juan (who isn’t afraid of anything apart from his mother – she might be small but by fucking Jesus she is mighty- she once got cut up in traffic near Old Trafford and ended up offering to fight several hundred Manchester United fans. THEY backed down!) is more than a little worried by the staring, slack-jawed madness and fiendish jabbering of DYFN and their Industrial crusher music. The vocal styles go from the kind of bat-radar-bothering high pitched shriek beloved of one D. Filth Esq. to the sepulchral depths of Glen Benton being all brooding and Satanic, and this is underpinned by music that sounds like madness personified. Apart from when there’s rapping over the kind of Old-Skool squelchy bass beloved of the likes of the Sugarhill Gang. However, DYFN can’t leave the electronic madness alone on ‘Mental Slot’ and hammer the sample pads on their drum machine and sampler like a rabid bastard on speed as well as howling and shrieking and spitting venom. It’s an interesting dichotomy compared with the sheer anarchic insanity of the more Metal songs on the album, where the guitar work batters the poor listener into submission and then just keeps on stamping. ‘X Or Cyst? Pt.2’ is a perfect example of this where there are many guitar lines building over a sequenced drum beat in a never ending crescendo and the vocal is just mental incoherent screaming – if anything it reminds Dark Juan of the sheer unconformity of the likes of Mr. Bungle – “De-illuminate” shares that same anarchic, esoteric quality that takes the basic building blocks of Metal and Rock and Industrial and Hip-Hop and Power Electronics and rams them all into each other at orbital velocities just to see what fucking happens, giggling like a loon all the while.
Imagine, if you will, the likes of Devin Townsend, with his instrumental prowess and sheer unwillingness to conform. Weld that to the likes of Protosequence and Necrophagist’s sheer technical ability. Then shove in an imagination and an insanity that could be dangerous enough to destabilise world governments. Finally, give that horrible creature a guitar and access to a recording studio. You may regret the shocking derangement that emanates from it, but you can be pleased that you have secured the Western world by not letting the mad bastard that is Dan Potter anywhere near the nuclear football or the purse strings of nations. If the price of stability is Dan Potter putting out music, then it is a small price to pay.
In fact, Dark Juan has just been reminded of the seminal “Musical Dimensions Of Sleastak” by old Earache alumni OLD – that shared the twisted rage and terrifying clinicality of the music. Like surgery being conducted by a disturbingly cheerful and staggeringly confident surgeon who also has a massive, throbbing and OBVIOUS erection at the thought of cutting into living flesh.
However, it has driven Dark Juan stark, staring mad and Dark Juan is sharpening weapons and might go on a killing spree because of DYFN. Dark Juan and Dan Potter should never, EVER meet because the fallout will be absolutely fucking colossal. If my misanthropy ever physically meets the gibbering madness of DYFN the world will fall before us. On your knees, motherfuckers.
The Patented Dark Juan Rating System awards Dark Years From Now 9/10 for a record that absolutely and perfectly reflects the state of Dark Juan’s psyche. A mark has been deducted because Dark Juan considers that too many people will be driven mad by the demented howling and sheer refusal to conform to musical norms or genres. Needless to say, Dark Juan fucking loves DYFN – they are the most perfect definition yet of Extreme music. Not Metal. Extreme. It is a whole new order of extremity.
TRACKLISTING:
01. They Said
02. Coquihalla
03. Accelerationist
04. The Quiz
05. Scourge Of The Pure Bloods
06. Pink Slime
07. Mental Slot
08. X Or Cyst? Pt.2
09. Loyal Steed Of The Snake Goddess
10. Face 2 Face
11. Knock You Out
12. Doomsday Cunt
LINE-UP:
Dan Potter – Fucking everything, the terrifying bastard.
LINKS:
Disclaimer: This review is solely the property of Dark Juan and Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of said party. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
