The 90s and early 2000s were a confusing time for melodic ‘heavy’ music. Bands like Nightwish, Sonata Arctica, Stratovarius and Kamelot were churning out hours and hours of music that sounded like metal but really was operatic pop music with loud guitars. The vocals were all epic and theatrical, the guitar and drums were very loud but very minimal, and massively cluttered string sections provided the feels and filled in melodic gaps. This genre would (and possibly should) have stayed niche if not for Poets Of The Fall, whose transition from just rock to something more theatrical in the early 2010s (consider Twilight Theater or Temple Of Thought) made this weird half-orchestral sound cool again. Arogya is of the opinion that this sound can still be up to date in 2019, and their new single ‘Dark World’ sticks to its guns.

Its guns in this case are soaring vocals, very dense production, and pretty simple songwriting. Even though there are many elements crammed into the mix (which is thick and fat), there really isn’t too much distraction from the main melodies of the track. It features Chris Harms of German metallers Lord Of The Lost as well. The main meat of the song is the hook, which has that combination of falsetto and straight vocals that the genre came to be known for. There’s a bridge with big vocals and a pre-chorus that’s straight out of a pop-rock song from the 90s. In spirit, ‘Dark World’ has way more in common with pop sensibilities than anything else, but that’s what makes the sounds used in the song more accessible, which is the main thing that makes it listenable to begin with.

Watch "Dark World" music video below: