Song of the Day: Darkest Hour - The Sadist Nation

     OK, seriously, just one more example of my theory about first songs on albums and then we'll get back to new shit. I promise.



     I've already featured one Darkest Hour album-opener as a Song of the Day before, namely Undoing Ruin's "With a Thousand Words to Say but One", which happens to be one of my all-time favourite first tracks. But Darkest Hour have proved more than just once that they know how to kick things off on a record.

     2003's Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation, my introduction to both Darkest Hour and the whole Gothenburg melodeath sound, opens with the quasi-title track "The Sadist Nation", a song that totally sets the tone for the rager of a record to follow. Lyrically and thematically acerbic and caustic, and packed with a perfect blend of punky energy and metal technicality, "The Sadist Nation" is perfectly placed on Hidden Hands. Crank this one, please.