Darklight Corporation

Hard, heavy and industrial yet driven by an infectious pop-influenced sensibility, New Zealand based powerhouse Darklight Corporation’s self-titled debut is the perfect reflection of these uncertain modern times, where people are on edge and angry but unwilling to compromise and sell out their dignity.

Penned by the band’s guitarist/producer Chris Prenter and sung powerfully by Brazilian born frontman Fabio Santos, the songs were fueled by anger towards credit companies in NZ preying on the poor and luring them into a lifestyle they could barely afford. When the credit crisis hit and the global economy went south, Darklight Corporation—which also includes bassist Elliot Chao and drummer Dean Beck—released their collection in their homeland through Isaac Promotions and Universal Music NZ and became an instant indie hit.

With major support from rock/metal radio shows and print media—who still regularly play tracks from the collection over a year after its initial release in New Zealand--the band has received consistent praise (averaging 4/5 stars in each review) for their crushing album and blistering live performances. While technological issues between the drum pads and PA vibrations nearly derailed their very first concert, Darklight Corporation has since toured their homeland in support of the release and began to receive invites to play large events like Metalfest 2 at the Transmission Room and Boys Day Out at Mystery Creek. They now average crowds of over 300 per show. Darklight Corporation is currently available in the U.S. via iTunes and, capitalizing on their new deal with Twisted Hillbilly Records, the band is eager to blow Stateside metal fans away with its unrelenting vibe.

Before coming together to form Darklight Corporation, the four members were literal strangers. After spending five years in London and being heavily influenced by its electronica scene, Prenter returned home to NZ to settle back into a quieter life. Instead, he rediscovered his love for the guitar and within three months had written more than enough material for a full album.
His music was dark and aggressive but very much in the pop vein, brutal at times but with splendid moments of beauty and grandeur. As the concept took shape, he began calling it Darklight Corporation and began searching for the perfect singer/frontman. He put ads in the local music press and conducted a few auditions, but nothing clicked till he met Fabio, who had been in New Zealand for two years and was advertising for a band on a musicshop website.
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“As soon as I met Fabio, I knew he was the creative force that would help me realize my vision for the band,” Prenter says. “His physical presence and ferocious vocals gave the music this enormous power and urgency and the tone of his voice was fantastic. Fabio wrote the lyrics and we got down to recording the vocals and shaping the music into songs. NZ is a very safe environment to grow up in, so compared to how Fabio grew up in Brazil with all the hardship and violence, he was going to influence the sound with some sort of tension and that fits in perfectly with the music. Some songs he sings about where he grew up and we can only imagine what it was like for him, but I think some of that pain comes through in the songs and affects people greatly.”

At the time he joined Darklight Corporation, Fabio was part of a metal covers band and recommended that their drummer Dean Beck join the new group. Bassist Elliot Chao, a jazz school student who Prenter met through a friend, impressed the guitarist with his thunderous sound and strong sense of melody and timing. Each member brought their own style to the music but never overshadowed the song, and their individual influences combined to form a cohesive sound that also reflected these personal flavors.

Propelled by a simple riff, the blazing and devastating “One Man Revolution” is a key track from the album that represents what Darklight Corporation seeks to convey: making the individual think that we can change the world one man at a time and make a conscious collective of people working together to improve our way of life. But it starts with the individual changing their needs and wants and to start thinking about the bigger picture. With its mix of guitars and electronic sounds, “Sweet Sickness” has been a popular song for the band; it’s about a love/hate relationship where the guy obviously hates himself for loving this girl but can’t bring himself to end the game. “Propaganda,” a track about how a government or individual can manipulate media to their own advantage, is probably the closest the band gets to full blown drum and bass; it’s a crossover track that goes down well live despite its many sonic challenges.

“The inspiration for our songs can be triggered by a personal experience or how we feel about a certain subject,” says Prenter. “We never try and force ideas and always let them manifest naturally and grow organically. O