Filled with heartrending beautiful synthesizer melodies and awesome cosmic keys, this Bulgarian duo stand out bigtime with this stunning new album of blackened melodic doom that just came out recently from Ars Magna. Perfectly Calm belies it's title with crushing epic doom metal laced with those signature electronic elements that are a huge, huge part of their sound - the core sound of Darkflight is super slow, lumbering doom in the tradition of My Dying Bride, Thergothon, and Disembowelment, all massive crushing minor-key riffage and thunderous drumming drenched in reverb, and with harsh blackened growls soaring over top, the songs huge and epic sounding, every track filled with amazingly beautiful melodic soloing and soaring majestic melodies, ultra heavy and utterly filled with sorrow and longing.
All of that by itself would make this one of the better funeral/death doom albums that I've heard this year, no doubt about it, but with the fucking devestating keyboard melodies and sheets of spacey, heavily textured Tangerine Dream-style ambient synthesizers that swoop and blurt and fill almost every corner of this album, it immediately becomes one of my favorite albums of 2008, and quite possibly my fave doom album of the year. This music is so beautiful and spacey and insanely heavy, filled with not just those killer kosmiche synths and unbelievable melodies, but also swells of sorrowful violin strings, dark droning buzzsaw feedback, bleak folky acoustic interludes, and what even sound like huge brass fanfares buried down in the buzzing blackened guitars and thunderous slow-motion beats, bringing additional levels of epicness to the music. It's funereal New Age cosmic doom immersed in 70's style prog electronics, more melodic and beautiful than any other black/doom outfit in recent memory. Highly recommended!

What an amazing album! This, the followup to their 2002 release "Under The Shadow Of Fear" album was well worth the wait. The production, obviously, is much better this time around (though I didn't have a problem with the production on their last release), and it makes for some striking differences. First of all, the percussion is thunderous and gives a rather cavernous impression, while the guitars are mixed with the synths rather well. Lots of high ended guitar work, and some of the darkest instrumentation Ivo has recorded in his career. The pace is consistently doomy, and one slight comment is that the tracks rarely vary in tempo from start to finish. However, the mood and atmosphere DOES change, quite frequently, from song to song (and often within the framework of every song), so while on a tune like 'L'Ether Astral' you're hearing dark synths accompanied by light, almost etherial piano notes, you'll ALSO hear some dark and heavy guitar work, and believe me the high ended leads are a definite highlight of the album. There are no female vocals on this album AT ALL, so what you get vocal wise is very harsh and echoey black metal vocals, almost whispered like quality like from Agalloch, but much more resonant and booming. 'Dissolving Into Nothingness' is one of the highlights of the album, with some killer atmosphere, and rather rich synths that portray horn sounds and gives this tune that epic touch. 'Distant Pain' is most noteworthy for adding an ultra heavy and doomy atmosphere, yet to add melodic acoustical guitars and a change of emotions all in one song. 'Perfectly Calm,' the title track, obviously sounds rather contradictory from first listen, especially with the haunting instrumentation giving way to some melodic acoustical guitar work, guitar work that stays right with the synths all the way to the end. Epic, dark and sorrowful with a melodic and melancholic touch, Darkflight has made a masterpiece of doomy and atmospheric black metal. CD ender 'L'Ether Astral' is a 10 minute piece that has only instrumentation for the first almost 4 minutes, setting up a mood before the harsh vocals kick in, only to end the track with solo synth passages. Every note, every emotion on this disc will make you FEEL something, and it's all done to a rather slow, doom metal pace. HIGHLY recommended if you think harsh music can't invoke any emotional or melodic feelings. I sincerely hope this band gets much more attention than it's getting now. A highlight for 2008.
Stephen Cannon
98/100

This come as a surprise, a sort of solo project from Bulgary playing a very emotive and deep kind of a dark epic symphony played with skillfully choices on the keyboards parts and sound. This can be the appropriate soundscape for the Lord of The Ring legend or something related to the most apocalyptic and threatening side of fantasy culture. Summoning surely rule on this way but this project is in my ear more somber and with less solar moments. Darkflight is more a trip to valleys, ruins, forgotten places left to tell their stories. The good quality of this cool offer is something I can't ignore, the right music to see the things from another perspective of this one of the ordinary days, like an eagle, this can be like searching for our inner self, in solitude, in consciousness or in perdition. The negative mood is the dominant one, like a decadent hymn, the quality is always very high and there are very few moments where the tension fall apart. The female vocals are very mystic but in some moments they aren't so well fused inside the overall vision. Apart from that this non-metal release is something appreciable.
Ildanachh
4,5/6

Although it starts off much like a doom metal soundtrack for Dr. Who, Darkflight's Under the Shadow of Fear is more fantasy than sci-fi. Songs drenched in many-textured synth orchestrations evoke a new age kind of feel, but gloomy, laden with fear and threat. Obviously the mood and title go hand in hand. Darkflight is a one-man project, except for a guest female vocalist. That, and its slow, slow pace may account for the album's barrenness, Darkflight's sound is big and ominous, but in its own way, simplistic as well. The overwhelming extent of keyboard use on the CD might be a bit suffocating for some, but devotees of the genre should appreciate Darkflight's brooding charm and careful craftsmanship. Of special mention: the track "A Call for the Dragons".
Laura Taylor

Black metal with no guitars that I can hear, only keyboards. Still comes across as being very dark and brooding though. It actually works, despite being all synth driven. I guess this is one of the few bands doing that kind of thing right. Everyone else, take notes!

I don't have much to say about this band indeed, the attached biography to the promo is long 2 lines and it just tells the kind of music the band plays (epic fantasy metal with high gothic grandeur, symphonic orchestration, black metal frosts, heroic doom and ethereal splendour) and their origin (Bulgaria). Other than that, on their past i don't know, i can instead say that in practice that's one man project that answers to the name of Ivo Iliev, accompanied here and there with the female voice of Tatyana Teneva. To speak honestly, this disc is not at all bad, and i think that's a good mix between the more atmospheric Mortiis, the gothic, epic metal of nordic kind (to mention Falkenbach and Bathory) and symphonic black metal. Surely nothing new under the sun, but in spite of all done good and with zeal... Also the very beautiful voice of Tatyana gives warmth and sensuality. Amazing is the artwork, created by the master of fantasy arts Christophe Vacher. I don't have nothing else to add.
Riccardo Maffiodo
7/10

Darkflight is real gothic from Bulgaria. Not just a record that disapears in the mass. No, Darkflight really tries to stick their head above the rest and they do so very well. Now and then, you can compare their style with bands as The Sins of Thy Beloved, although i still find them a little better. The music style goes in the direction of Nightwish, though not as bombastic as they are. The voice is uncomparable. The Darkflight female singer sounds childish, fragile and now and then a little bit out of tune. Although this maybe could give it a little extra.
Sofie Vandenbriele
Gold 6/7

I really dig this band. Apparently a one man project from Bulgaria, this is some VERY well crafted, um, dare I say black metal??? Well, the vocal work of Ivo is absolutely sick!! And you all know how I love my black metal, utterly sick and devoid of that "human" sound... Hee hee... Anyway, yes, the blackened vocals are quite harsh but it's the music that grabs you! Virtually absent are the guitars on this release, well, at first anyway. I've listened to this about 9 or 10 times and the guitars are THERE, but some of the heavier guitars are so processed they almost don't sound real. Ivo also utilizes some acoustic guitars, but the synths are the main instrument here. And what sounds like a drum machine, as it reminds me of the electronic drums Ground:Xero uses. All that aside, the songs do have a melancholic, epic and melodic feel to them, and the tempo of the tracks is usually quite slow, though not doom metal oriented. 'Moonlight Battle,' 'Black Spirit,' 'Under The Shadow Of Fear...' Quite fantasy oriented lyrics do abound. The lone ballad here 'To Die In Your Arms...' well, I usually shun the ballad, but this has such emotional instrumentation on it, it's absolutely amazing! It will take your soul to depths you never knew existed! Oh, and did I mention there's a female vocalist? She turns up on many tracks, but is never overused, and sounds wonderful. 'A Call For The Dragons' had some nice medieval styled trumpets to go along with the majestic and slower synths. 'Occult Rituals' had a rather dark atmosphere, and some haunting synths as well. I do have to say I thought some of the instrumentation on the ending track 'Alone Somewhere Beyond' could have been constructed a little better, but if you're a black metal purist you're going to avoid this anyway. It's amazing just how brutal and sick the vocals can be while adding mood, atmosphere, and melancholic yet serene atmosphere, and the instrumentation on this record paints the biggest and most amazing pictures you'll hear in music. A must have.
Steven Cannon
94/100

Darkflight is one man band, consisting of writer musician Ivo Iliev, who composed and performed the whole concept of "Under The Shadow Of Fear" album. The composer who comes from Bulgaria will lead you into the catacombs of original epic dark metal, telling you a stories and fiction adventures about magic, rituals, beasts and battle. Black metal passages, symphonic orchestrations, doom melancholy and gothic moods are battling the struggle for the listener's spiritual travel. Although there's some weaknesses (the repeating drum beats) this composer, coming from the east achieved his primal aim - summoning dark images into the listener's mind.
Laurent Michelland
4/6

Darkflight is the solo project of the bulgarian Ivo Iliev, that conceived a majestic opera and released it with the single help from Tatyana Teneva as far as the female vocals are concerned. It's not easy to describe the music of this band, continuously in search for dreamy and atmospherical solutions, that builds his own compositions on a very strong doom basement, and then on very dilated round riffs and on a dry rhythmical section, and spice that all with the work of keyboards, that are engaged in creating the sound structures and to give all the compositions a strong sad atmosphere, full of pain, almost desperate. Maybe the best paragons for this work should be chosen within the dark scene, bands that make of orchestrations one of the characteristics of their sound, and I'm thinking of truly emotional acts like Empyrium. But that's just half fitting, because the black metal roots (expecially in the use of vocals) they use allow to put it close to examples of primal and experimental black metal: "The Eclipse of Life" is an explanatory song in this sense, as built as it is on a sort of apocalyptic dark folk like the early Abruptum or the huge Void of Silence. "Under the Shadow of Fear" is a truly out of the schemes offer, based on truly emotional and a-musical orchestrations, that owns some disrupting charm and inner strenght. A compelled purchase this year, to listen to in darkness.
Giorgio Fogliata
8.5/10

An interesting little album this. Known for their non-conformist signing policy, ROA have again turned up something a little bit different which, although roughly hewn, has much to recommend it. Darkflight is a one-man operation (warning bells are being sounded now i can hear...) and although many such setups have historically proved little more than poorly-executed masturbatory fantasies, bulgarian Ivo Iliev has clearly had the objectivity to pull this off (pun intended). Driven by simplistic keyboards and sparse, brittle guitar, there's as much goth here as there's metal, but Iliev avoids most of the usual pitfalls associated with the conjoining of these genres through pure naivety, or so it seems. Uncluttered and airy, many of the pieces here would cease to function in the hands of six or seven egoistical musicians battling to be heard, but Darkflight's approach also harbours the album weaknesses. With a drum machine providing the central drive and a home recording space supplanting the advantages of a proffesional facility, 'Under The Shadow...' sounds just a tad too much like an excellent demo and would have benefited greatly from some expert knob-twiddling. It's tricky to know where Darkflight might fit in within the mutable terminology of metal, but only Green Carnation spring to mind when one considers music a million miles from the leather'n'studs cliches but which could find a home nowhere else. A promising first step.
Damien
6,5/10

Darkflight? Didn't I already have something of that band? Nope, that was Dark Light, an Italian gothic thingy. Nice, but not out of this world. How about Darkflight? That is a different story! First, it's Bulgarian, second it's black metal with gothic and doom influences. But is it out of this world? Read on and decide for yourself. The ingredients: A lovely (friendly) female voice in the distance, black grunts, dominant (yet not in an annoying way), heavy keyboards, drums that vary form wild to subtle and intense guitars. More intense than Summoning, but it does remind me of them from time to time. This is partly due to the grunts that are in the back, just like the female vocals, which gives the band a typical sound. This sound can be ascribed to mister Ivo Iliev (Dreamflight, indeed), who is solely responsible for the music and the lyrics. With the help of the beautiful, almost fairy-like voice of Tatyana Teneva. How about the rest? Ivo Iliev. Everything? Everything! And can this gentleman be proud of what he has achieved? Sure! "Under The Shadow Of Fear" is a very atmospheric album. Only the art work was not done by him but by the French Christophe Vacher (his site is very worth visiting if you're into fantasy-art..). Mr Iliev's music tells nearly mythical stories about magic, adventure, battle and other mediaeval themes. His lyrics, therefore, are very suitable for people who are into Tolkien, for instance. The atmosphere of the album is dark, but lighter tunes as in "The Eclipse Of Life" are a positive exception. A good album, with a fitting end that makes it a whole. Good Job, Ivo!
Aernaut
80/100

What an ethereal trip Darkflight is. The first time through "Under the Shadow Of Fear", I was a bit puzzled. After a few more listens, I finally got the idea. This one-man project play what most people would consider symphonic, gothic black metal. There's only one catch - the guitar is practically non-existent! Ivo Iliev, the mastermind behind this work, relies on a keyboard alone to provide both the melodies and harmonies for the soundtrack to his tempermental and tortured lyrical scrawlings. I'm not sure if there's a guitar or not, to be honest. There are moments on the CD where it sounds like a guitar may be playing, but it's so buried in the background and quiet compared to the main keyboard that it's difficult to tell whether it's the actual instrument or a keyboard being played on the guitar setting. Darkflight also use a drum machine which plays sorrowfully slow drum beats to give this a very doomy feel. The only outside help comes in the form of a female voice which is used more to provide atmosphere more than anything else. "Under the Shadow of Fear" is definitely an acquired taste. If the sounds of majestic, gothic black metal tickle your fancy - take note. With the lack of a large guitar presence, Darkflight play music that sounds more like the soundtrack to a "Conan: The Barbarian" sequel than a metal record.
Danowar

Source/Credits: 666fm @ Spirit of Metal Webzine

First of all, how would you introduce Darkflight to the French metalheads who do not know you yet?

An obscure underground band that plays a style which won't appeal to a larger audience, but for those who would love to plunge and get lost into a darker world, listening to our music might be enjoyable.
Maybe that's a good way to put it, eh?
Anyways, we've been around for 8 years now and our music was inspired by the earlier works of Empyrium, i could describe it as - atmospheric melodic soundscapes with harsh vocals and lyrical content that takes you either to a fantasy world or into the depths of a lonely troubled mind. We have been compared most often with bands like Summoning, Void Of Silence and Agalloch, but we'd like to think that we create something different (and hopefully we do).

Could you explain the meaning of the name "Darkflight"?

Well, the name comes from the book of Adam Nichols "The War of the Lords Veil" which inspired the basic concept for our debut album, there is an old charm saying "Flitters of the night, spirits dark in flight...", i had a band by that time Dreamflight and i just combined the words, i think it fits perfectly our music - "A flight into Darkness".

You once told me that the biggest support you had was from France, is this still true and how do you explain it ? Did the idea of including French lyrics come out after taking note of that?

Unfortunately lately we don't get so much feedback, even though our new album was recently released, but it's scarcely advertised and distributed in Europe... Indeed we had some strong support from France after the release of "Under The Shadow of Fear" and the reason was that one of the tracks was featured into the Metallian magazine CD compilation, reaching a wider audience, we received many emails and positive fan reviews by that time.
We met some great people along the way, also a french lyricist who did a bigger part of the lyrics on the last album.
The idea of adding some french lyrics came while we were creating the title and lyrics to the "Regard d'Outre Monde". The original english title was "Peeking into the world of the living", so we were both unhappy with it and we decided to use a french one... after awhile we thought to experiment a bit more and added some lines in french, which in my opinion gave the song some kind of special feel. Then came "L'ether Astral"... I think it's also a good way to say thank you to those who supported us and kept this project alive through these years and difficulties.

Let's now talk about your last record, Perfectly Calm : it is only your second full-lenght after Under the Shadow of Fear, released in 2003. Is this long time mainly a consequence of the label and financial problems you have known, or also of your songwriting process? Could you describe this process?

A big gap between the two albums, yes., we had problems with the labels and with the line up by that time, but things are way better now, our music is improved and sounds much more mature.
The songwriting also takes longer, being older and having to deal with problems in life leaves less and less time for music. There was a split CD planned for release somewhere in 2005, but it was canceled due to one of the labels financial collapse, i remember it took me 6 months to compose and record the 4 songs for that album.
Then we had the deal with Ars Magna Recordings and i had to compile a lengthy second record. I wanted to have only new songs in it, but if i did that probably it would have been delayed further more, so i used and re-recorded the 2 songs from that split album: "Indifferent" & "Better than Real", added the "Distant Pain" demo + 3 entirely new songs. That's how "Perfectly Calm" was born. We are very satisfied with the result, of course some people complained that it's a bit too slow and that the keys are no longer up in the mix, but this is just the way how we imagined it to be.
It's difficult to describe the songwriting process, coz it's always different, usually i imagine the songs or just hear a melody in my mind, then i grab the guitar or the keyboard and sketch it down.

It is said in the booklet that the lyrics of "L'Ether Astral" are inspired from the Hermann Hesse's novel Der Steppenwolf, but isn't the whole album inspired by this book, or even by the Hesse's ideology?

I thought about making another entirely conceptual album, but this time we did something different... We tried to create a complicated atrmospheric multi-layered album and the lyrics this time have many different aspects. I think it's better to leave the interpretation solely to the listener and the music and lyrics to be there just to push his/hers imagination.
Hesse's concept came nicely at the end of the album leading to a spiritual elevation and then maybe a deep fall into the dark hopelessness.
But i really want to leave that imagery to the listeners. They may choose to plunge into a fantasy universe where glorious defeats take place (Yet here I stand) or into the world of misanthropic depressed mind (Indifferent).

From a strictly musical point of view now, what are your main influences and inspirations?

Well i like the music to be slow, powerful & ultra heavy... thing is lately it's very hard to find a band that plays something totally innovative and fresh that could excite you as much as that you would want to create something even better.
I remember how excited i was when i heard for the first time Empyrium's "A Wintersunset" or In the Woods... albums.
Earlier, i could mention we draw influences from Cathedral's "Forest of Equilibrium", Unholy's "Trip to Depressive Autumn" and many more... Last few weeks i really enjoy to listen the last Esoteric album and Warning's "Watching from a distance".

How do you see the future of the band? Can we expect some live performances?

Maybe a third album after 2 years, if there's still somebody interested to release it, i really hope that there will be enough people who will buy this one from Ars Magna and they will be ok to release another one.
As for the live performances we're thinking about that and we had some offers to play gigs abroad, but it's very difficult to find dedicated people - good musicians around the area where we live.
I think some of the songs will sound really good live.

The traditional question for our website: what is for you the "spirit of metal"?

I live and breathe metal music for 19 years now, so i guess i possess this spirit. Maybe that's one of the things that keeps me alive. Of course i always keep an open mind for other musical styles as well, as long as there's melancholy in them.

Thank very much you for this interview and for the music. The last words are yours!

I would also like to thank you for your support and for the interest in Darkflight, let's hope we'll have occasion to speak again. As for those who don't know the band yet or are familiar only with our albums check out our website darkflight.net, there are some old unreleased and demo tracks for download which you might like! Thanks again!