Mike Sullivan of Music Connection conducted an interview with Mike Schleibaum (guitar) and Aaron Deal (bass) of Washington D.C. metallers DARKEST HOUR at this year's NAMM (National Association Of Music Merchants) show, a massive music-products convention that took place January 24-27 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. You can now watch the chat below.

DARKEST HOUR's sixth album, "The Human Romance", sold around 3,600 copies in the United States in its first week of release to debut at position No. 185 on The Billboard 200 chart. The CD landed at position No. 3 on the Top New Artist Albums (Heatseekers) chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists, defined as those who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

"The Human Romance" was recorded at a North Carolina studio with producer (and now-former SOILWORK guitarist) Peter Wichers.

This time around, the DARKEST HOUR songs were composed a bit differently than was the case in the past. Guitarist Mike Schleibaum explained, "'The Eternal Return' was written during a very dark, bleak time for the band and I think that record matches that in both tone and character. Our vision was for it to be an in-your-face, no-frills aggressive assault. The new material shares in that aggression and pushes DARKEST HOUR beyond the unknown."