There’s no need to introduce the band Dark Gamballe any further because of its foundation eighteen years ago and „Perpetuum Gamballe“ being their ninth full-length album. They had successfully abandoned the thrash/death metal past and have been subsequently establishing their own sound until 2002. The title reads crossover electro metal which I can mostly agree with, but I prefer the band’s own description as the “psychotic mainstream music”.

After the first brief listening it did not appeal to my interest. However this also happened with the two previous albums which now I regard very highly. This music definitely isn’t anything you can get easily into at first. You’ve got to get through each song carefully to understand it properly. A typical example of what I’m talking about is the nearly balladic „Kámen“ with deep melancholic atmosphere and classical piano parts adorned by a brilliant guitar solo. Another one worth mentioning is „Zlatonoš“ with its nu-metal beginning not very far from what for example Papa Roach produce. The rest is again primarily about the atmosphere created by the keyboards. The songs throughout the record are very varied, combining both faster and slower rhythms to clearly distinguish the melancholically psychedelic mood so typical for DG, now and then suitably enhanced by electronic elements. The only thing I dislike about it is the distorted vocal. I understand that it should make the songs sound more unusual but the singer „10“ has a voice that does not deserve any special effects. Hopefully the amount of this is still quite reasonable. I can’t leave it without a comment about admiration for the instrumental professionalism. It’s clearly hearable that they have gone a long path to master their musicianship and coordination so forget about noticing any hesitation in their work. The lyrics are suitable enough. Furthermore they are all in Czech so the ones not familiar with the “Gamballe” language can enjoy them as well.

I must confess that this record is a one that DG should definitely be proud of. I’m glad that they’re still making music mainly for their own pleasure without any signs of commercialization. I believe that this pleasure is felt by their fans alike.