Darkness is a thrash metal band from Germany that was founded in 1984. Based in Essen, the founding members include drummer and singer Andreas "Lacky"/"Torturer" Lakaw, bassist Hartmut "Agony" Schöner and the two guitarists Andreas "Skull" Becker and Uwe "Damager" Christoffers. This formation recorded the demo album The Evil Curse in 1985. Two years later, the band released their debut album Death Squad via Tales of Thrash Records. Two more albums followed with Defenders of Justice (1988) and Conclusion & Revival (1989). The band then split up again. In 2004, the former band members reunited. However, they initially called themselves Eure Erben and interpreted some of Darkness' songs in German. Between 2006 and 2010, they released several EPs under a new band name. After several re-releases of earlier albums, the live album Bocholt Live Squad, a concert recording of Darkness from 1987, was released in 2005. The band returned as Darkness with the compilations The Demos (2008) and Thrash till Death (2015). In 2016, a new studio album, The Gasoline Solution, was released after almost 30 years. The albums First Class Violence (2018) and Over and Out (2020) followed at short intervals. It then took four years for Darkness to release another album, Blood on Canvas. The band entered the German album charts for the first time at number 92. At the end of September 2025, the band released another album, Death Squad Chronicles. On it, Darkness interprets old songs in a new guise. The album climbs to number 73 in the German charts.
