by Thom JurekVictory Records has spared nothing, put it all on the table for Darkest Hour's fifth full-length Deliver Us. The package is a deluxe four-color job with metallic inset print for the band's name. And there's a reason to do that for this band, because Deliver Us is their most realized statement yet. They are still a devoted, thrashed-out death metal band whose Washington DC hardcore roots run deep. It's more that as a band, they've matured, arrived at something completely realized after nearly a decade together. John Henry's lyric writing has matured beyond what even he expected; the sheer, taut wiry throb that guitarists Kris Norris and Mike Schleibaum create is hopelessly heavy. The rhythm section of drummer Ryan Parrish and bassist Paul Burnette, is lock-grip solid. The music has dynamics, texture and plenty, plenty of attack. Check the flipped out melodies in "Tunguska," where the riff turns in on itself to produce a melody that just crackles out of the gate. The shimmering opening of "A Paradox with Flies" doesn't even hint at the distorted squall of fury that lies within the body of the song itself. The chronic shredding guitars in the title track that closes the disc are almost buried under the wall of bass and drum thud but are nevertheless edgy as a stiletto. For those who are curious, this is a way in, for the faithful, this is what you've been waiting for.