This Present Darkness

Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

-Winston Churchill

I tried to write this all fancy in third person, but it just sounded weird when it came time to end it (it also sounded super impersonal, and I don’t like that). So hi, I’m Nic Wallace. This is a brief history of This Present Darkness to bring you up to speed.

This Present Darkness slipped quietly onto the scene in 2011 following the collapse of my previous project, A Battle To Fight. Originally a bassist, I launched my solo project without any elaboration, assuming all the instrumental duties on my own, and began to experiment. First I began with a hard rock sound. “Set the Sky Aflame” was released in 2012, and garnered a small following, but it wasn’t quite the style I was looking for. While writing STSA, I found I had a hard time staying true to a more rock groove and not straying into a more metalcore genre. So in 2014, I decided not to fight my metalcore influences and released “There’s Much To Be Done Still.” TMTBDS featured the typical five-piece metalcore lineup, but I still wasn’t quite satisfied. Around this time I began formal education in music theory and began to put my new knowledge to work, delving deeper into extended range instruments and unusual compositions.

The result was the musically satiating “Nayenezgani.” Nayenezgani marked a shift. It was finally the sound I was looking for, but it also delved deep into my own personal history. The album dealt heavily with my foray into depression and anxiety and my struggles to reconcile my experiences with my ideologies and beliefs.

Progressing from Nayenezgani, I began to focus on my technical ability and lyricism. I began to recover mentally and emotionally enough to look outward again. Pain will change a person, and mine left me with a passion for the hurt and injustices in the world. Through this new lens, “Dream of Waking Up” was penned. Drawing inspiration from bands like Silent Planet (lyrically and musically), Periphery (musically), and Underoath (lyrically and musically), I maintained the 7-string/5-string sound of Nayenezgani with a focus on unusual rhythmic structures and complex lyrical imagery. The result has brought me closer than ever to the sound I want. From here on out, it's all fine tuning.

If you're just now joining the journey, know that I appreciate you. This isn't just “some guy who likes to play music,” but I'm not conceited enough either to think I'm changing the world. I'm happy to know I'm impacting a few people in a good way. And if you're one of those people, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support.