How many mental breakdowns will Darkest Hour's latest record induce? No one can say for sure, but what's apparent is that Darkest Hour provides speed metal fans with just a brutal aural onslaught. Not for the faint-hearted, Hidden Hands of a Sadist Nation, the band's second full-length, is comprised of nine volatile tracks, featuring machine gun guitars, maniacal drumming, and growling/screamed vocals to top it all off.

A great characteristic of this record is not only the melodic metal, but also the truly thought-provoking lyrics - well, that is if you can decipher them. These guys aren't afraid to say what's on their minds, most notably voicing their disillusionment with our great nation. With songs like the incendiary opener "Sadist Nation," "The Misinformation Age," which features passionate screams beckoning us to not just follow the leaders blindly and mindlessly, and to "rise up," "see through the lie," and "make yourselves heard," the equally compelling "Marching to the Killing Rhythm," with lyrics like "This machine is marching to the killing rhythm/Spilling blood in vein subdues the vengeful masses/So put your blinders on, replace your conscience with a flag," and "The Patriot Virus" that ends with ominous shouts of "fear what's next." This stuff is like the metal version of Anti-Flag: provocative, rebellious, challenging the system, not afraid to pronounce their opposing views and look for the truth behind what we're being told.

Music-wise, all but one song are bludgeoning, insanely fast offerings that often feature hardcore breakdowns, as on "Sadist Nation," "Pay Phones and Pills" with its slower, extremely powerful instrumental ending, "Oklahoma," where mid-song everything dies out but the droning guitars until the drums, bass, and guitars come back a little slower but with full force accompanied by impassioned vocals, and "Accessible Losses." This elaborate song, which clocks in at eight minutes, includes a light, intricate guitar interlude interspersed with hardcore snippets until the other instruments resume around the 5:30 mark, and then the vocals and a whirlwind of noise occurs until it all ceases with the placid guitars once again. The finale, entitled "Veritas, Acquitas," is a (somewhat) mellower, affecting instrumental that even features an acoustic guitar break and later a piano etude, an arena rock-worthy guitar solo, and finally ends with more piano at an epic-like 12:40. This is a great closer, as it's a rather unexpected composition (Victory).

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