Artist: Dark Order
Title: Cold War of the Condor
Type: Album
Label: Battlegod Productions
Thinking of Australia and heavy metal, it really is only the all time classic rockers AC/DC that are likely to immediately come to mind, and nothing at all towards the extreme end of the genre. As such, it was with no preconceptions that I approached listening to this new album by Dark Order, Cold War of the Condor. As an introduction to the Australian thrash scene, an 86 minute concept album on the evils of the Pinochet reign of Chile is an ambitious and intimidating start. For the uninitiated General Pinochet lead a military overthrow of the democratically elected Chilean government on September 11th 1973, coincidentally the title of the opening track of the album, tracks which with its Nuremburg Rally like chants and dark undertones gives a chilling indication of what it to come. Backed by Western governments for his staunch anti-communist stance, his regime was typified by military brutality, the kidnap, torture and murder of political opponents, mass exile of dissenters, and for a country supported by the supposedly democratic west, the removal of basic freedoms for the majority of the population. It is from this dark time of recent history that Dark Order, themselves of Chilean ancestry, have produced their third album.
Musically, the heavier tracks of the album owe a lot musically to early Slayer; ‘Dissension of the Raptor’ and ‘State of Siege’ sounds like Tom Araya had stopped writing about amateur killers and picked as his subject matter a genocidal bastard instead, the lyrics barked angrily over strident thrash guitars. ‘Tears of the Exiled’ follows this formula, with its twin wailing guitars, before the vocals cut in with a hardcore punch, evoking in its structure Suicidal Tendencies’ work.
Amongst these metal assaults is the acoustic number ‘A Lament for Victor Jara’, a track sung in Spanish accompanied by a flamenco influenced guitar, it is dedicated to a theatre director and teacher whose murder at the start of the Pinochet regime became a beacon for peace campaigners. I’ve no idea what the Spanish lyrics said, but a real pain and sadness came through the vocals, in contrast to the anger of so much of the rest of the album.
Often you’ll hear albums being described as sounding angry or brutal, simply because the playing is hard and aggressive and shouted. Cold War of the Condor is a genuinely angry work, and with its grim subject matter, justifiably so. How could it be anything else? ‘Villa Grimaldi’ with its Kerry King like screaming guitar solo tells of a place where so many were tortured, while ‘The Disappeared’, with an opening drum line sounding like the marching beat for a firing squad before the guitars fire in to accompany blackened vocals is a reminder of the thousands of state sponsored murders. Whilst a quiet track, arguably the darkest and angriest is ‘Criminal of State’, an indictment of the role of Henry Kissinger in the promotion and protection of right wing governments in South America. Himself a German-Jewish refugee from Nazism, Dark Order use this track to blast at his hypocrisy at supporting so many Fascist governments in the hysteria of anti-communism.
Cold War of the Condor is an album that deserves to be listened in its entirety, each track telling as it does a part of the dark history of Chile, and the dark dangers of Imperialism. Just in case you may sit smugly in the knowledge this was an event in the past of no relevance to you now in the UK, being the political machinations of the US, remember, it was the UK that Pinochet came to for asylum in 1998, staying for two years before it was decided he was “too ill” in 2000 to stand trial. Each track is well played, and well composed, but it’s in the context of the whole album that each song becomes stronger. At 86 minutes long in a world of short sound bites and throwaway 3 minute downloads, that may sound off putting, but to hear a well composed album, played with genuine passion, and a real message, is more then worth while.
http://www.myspace.com/darkorder
http://www.darkorder.com.au
