Darkest Hour new album updates..

Washington D.C. metallers DARKEST HOUR are about to enter Baltimore, Maryland's Salad Days Studio with producer Brian McTernan to begin recording their new album for a spring 2009 release via Victory Records. Things have come full circle for the band, which recorded its 2000 seminal debut "Mark Of The Judas" with McTernan.

Commented guitarist Mike Schleibaum: "DARKEST HOUR is hard at work now writing and recording demos that will soon birth our follow up to'Deliver Us'. The DARKEST HOUR sound is evolving once again — it will have all the melody, guitar wizardry, and overall epicness that one has come to expect form a great DARKEST HOUR record but this time that sound will be married with something much darker and sinister.

"We are taking extra time to craft every song and make sure each one is a balls the walls jammer! McTernan is pushing us extra hard to ensure that when these songs make it to you ears they start bleeding!

"We live in dark times and the world needs a soundtrack for them."

DARKEST HOUR will take a break from working on the next album to play a few select dates later this month. Joining the band on the outing will be THE RED CHORD, THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD, SKELETONWITCH andROSE FUNERAL.

The details are as follows:

Dec. 18 - Wilmington, NC - The Soapbox (no THE RED CHORD)
Dec. 19 - Philadelphia, PA - The Church
Dec. 20 - Pompton Lakes, NJ - Mainstage
Dec. 21 - Washington, D.C. - 9:30 Club

Regarding the band's collaboration with producer Brian McTernan, Mike Schleibaum previously said, "We are excited to work with Brian again. He has been a longtime friend and supporter of the band ever since its very first shows in 1995. When we recorded 'Mark of the Judas' with him in 2000, it helped solidify our sound and define us as a band. Eight years later, it's time to do it again. With all the scars of our past to guide us, we look towards a new future." 

Look for a DARKEST HOUR European headlining tour in January.

DARKEST HOUR recently parted ways with guitarist Kris Norris and replaced him with Houston's Mike "Lonestar" Carrigan, who filled in forKris during the Thrash and Burn tour. 

DARKEST HOUR's latest album, "Deliver Us", was released in July 2007 viaVictory Records. The follow-up to 2005's "Undoing Ruin" was recorded at the Warehouse in Vancouver, Canada.