History & Biography The band was formed in December 1984. Darkness was an extreme thrash metal band from Essen in the west of Germany with demos like The Evil Curse (1985), Spawn Of The Dark One (1986) and Titanic War (also 1986). Drummer Lacky also sang until 1986 when dedicated vocalist Olli was introduced. The initial line-up, therefore, was a trio of Lacky with Agony/Hartmut Schöner (bass) and Skull/Andreas Becker. Guitarist Damager/Uwe Christoffers, who had joined in time for the debut demo Evil Curse, left in 1985. He would join Sodom briefly. Guitarist Skull and bassist Agony left in 1986. The former left to focus on his home and wife. The latter was asked to leave due to his drug use. As such, the band's line-up had been overhauled within two years.
Gama signed the band for five albums. Death Squad's line-up was singer Olli, guitarists Arnd (like Olli also from Crypt) and Pierre, bass player Raper and Lacky. Defenders Of Justice, which had Thomas on bass, was re-released twice as Bloodbath and Broken Heart each time with different cover arts! The album was often criticized as being inferior by a kilometer compared to its predecessor. Thomas would join Arnd in Sankt Velten in 2024. Olli died of a reported heart attack in 1998. He was doing too many drugs.
The band briefly came out of retirement before disappearing and reappearing in late 2013. Arnd and Lacky, and two former members, were operating under another name, but the band had played Keep It True as Darkness in 2006. Original members Andreas "Lacky" Lackaw and Arnd Klink, recruited bassist Christian "Speesy" Giesler of Kreator, Bony Fertigmensch and Meik Heitkamp. The band shared a rehearsal space with Kreator in the early days.
Bocholt Live Squad stemmed from 1987. The band had operated as Eure Erben between 2004 and 2012 having split up in 1991. The Demos and Thrash till Death! were compilations. Arnd Klink took over the vocals for a while. XXIX was a 2015 EP. The group appeared at the True Thrashfest in Japan with, among others, Defiled and Asylum in 2017. The 2020 EP Over And Out featured a live track from Japan, cover versions and self-cover versions. Bassist ben took over from Dirk in 2019. Sound And Action - Rare German Metal Vol. 2 was a 2022 compilation from ZYX Music featuring bands like Gipsy, Axon, Rampage, Mekong Delta, Warning and Darkness. Meik announced his departure at the beginning of 2024. He had been in the group for a decade. The band was left with one guitarist. Blood On Canvas featured exactly that on its cover. It was supported through a lyric video for the song Roots Of Resistance and a video for Wake Up In Rage. The group had a couple of album release shows and was booked for Rage Of Armageddon festival, Blade Of Steel Metalfest, Teutonic Thrash Invasion and others. The band was travelling to Poland for the first time to play at Black Silesia Open Air VII as well. New guitarist Dominik Rothe (Taskforce Toxicator, Scanner, etc.) had also fit Darkness into the list of his many acts. Damager died in 2022.
The cover of Death Squad really says it all! Another Darkness appeared in Germany around 1985, but quickly changed its name.
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