Australian thrashers Dark Order have embarked on an
ambitious journey with 'Cold War of the Condor'. In 86 minutes, the four-piece
take us through the bloody history of the dictator Augusto Pinochet
who held Chilé in his iron fist from 1974 to 1990 and killed god knows how
many thousands of his countrymen in the process.
I love the idea of using music as a history book. For several reasons. The main
two reasons being that a. there are so many fascinating stories that deserve to
be told and b. for those who are less educated or from the outset interested,
this is a different way to learn some history. If I'm to conclude anything from
the names of the members of Dark Order, I'd say that there's definitely a South
American connection of sorts, and thus another incentive to tell the story?
As for the music, this is an album that ought to be interesting for any fan of
old-school thrash of the Bay Area kind. The names floating in my head are
Forbidden, Exodus, Vio-lence, to some extent Death Angel and then add a wee bit
of Slayer. Singer Raul has a characteristic voice that it took me a few spins to
get used to, but now it works for me. I'm not sure about the quality of the
ballady piece A Lament for Victor Jara (Requiem Eternal is in my view by far the
better quiet piece), whereas thrash hymns like State of Siege, Villa Grimaldi
and Blood Fire hit right home.
All in all recommended listening!
