The Dark - Sinking Into Madness

Sinking Into Madness sounds like deathrock dragged through the filth of ’80s metal and Japanese hardcore, a collision that makes The Dark remarkably difficult to pin down.

Released in 2024 on Toxic State Records, the album is the debut LP from the Compton, California band, following their 2018 Demons EP. Featuring members of Tozcos and Personal Damage, The Dark draw from several generations of underground punk and metal without settling comfortably into any of them.

Galloping riffs and steady, mid-paced drums give the record a heavy metallic backbone, pulling from early thrash, metalpunk, and particularly the darker strain of mid-’80s Japanese hardcore. But the vocals push Sinking Into Madness somewhere stranger. Reverb-drenched howls, snarls, and unexpectedly melodic deathrock phrasing hang over the riffs, giving the record an eerie atmosphere closer to a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles punk club than straightforward hardcore. Contemporary reviews have drawn connections to bands including The Execute, G-ZET, G.I.S.M., and the darker side of early L.A. deathrock.

Songs such as “The Badge and the Gun,” “Dragged to Hell,” “Heartless,” and “Nightmare” balance that metallic attack with genuine hooks, while the lyrics move through police violence, poverty, grief, and the psychological exhaustion of modern life. The closing “Kill the Pain” even allows a flicker of renewal to emerge from the surrounding bleakness.

Sinking Into Madness is a particularly nasty hybrid of deathrock, hardcore punk, and ’80s metal, steeped in vintage influences but assembled in a way that feels distinctly its own. Dark, riff-heavy, and menacing without sacrificing melody, it’s an impressive full-length statement from one of Southern California’s more distinctive contemporary punk bands.