Darker Half

Darker Half
Origin	Sydney, NSW
Genres	Power metal, thrash metal
Years active	2003 – present
Labels	Massacre
Associated acts	Killrazer, Vaticide, Night Legion, Mason, Pänik, Deiformity, Hell Itself
Members	Dom Simpson, Vo Simpson, Daniel Packovski
Past members	Jimmy Larder-Brown, Brad Dickson, Benito Martino, Nick Alderton, Max Griffiths, Jim Bridgeman, Simon Hamilton

Band members

• Current line-up
  • Daniel Packovski (guitar)
  • Dom Simpson (drums)
  • Vo Simpson (vocals, guitar)
  • Jimmy Wynen (bass)

• Former members
  • Simon Hamilton (bass) 2005 - 2021
  • Jimmy Lardner-Brown (guitar) 2015 - 2017
  • Brad Dickson (guitar) 2009 - 2015 d. 15/4/20
  • Benito Martino (drums) 2005 - 2009
  • Nick Alderton (guitar) 2003 - 2008
  • Max Griffiths (vocals, bass) 2003 - 2005
  • Jim Bridgeman (drums) 2003 - 2005

Band information

Darker Half is a band from Sydney playing melodic power and traditional metal. The band formed around Vo Simpson, Max Griffiths, Nick Alderton and Jim Bridgeman. They quickly began playing live despite being all too young to appear in licensed venues and featured at the first Metalstock festival at Easter 2005. Simon Hamilton and Benito Martino joined the band at the end of 2005 and the group recorded a four-track EP. In 2008 Alderton parted ways with the band and Dom Simpson joined on guitar. The band was announced as the opening act on a tour by UFO, but that tour was cancelled. Duality which was released in early 2009 and supported by a national tour.

The band toured with Paul Di'Anno in June 2009 after which Dom Simpson switched to drums when Martino departed. Brad Dickson joined on guitar and Darker Half went on to support Queensrÿche nationally in August. Darker Half played at Screamfest in Sydney over the New Year and in June 2010 again performed shows with Paul Di'anno. The band's second album Desensitized was released in August 2011 and they toured nationally with Katabasis at most shows. During 2012 the band supported Warbringer and featured on the inaugural Steel Assassins festival with Megahera from Italy and Voyager. 2013 began with an opening slot on a tour by Nightwish and late in the year the band supported Stratovarius. During 2014, Darker Half toured the US following the release of Never Surrender, an album featuring reworkings of tracks from the first two albums. Late in 2014 Darker Half supported Accept with Jimmy Lardner-Brown of Killrazer standing in for Dickson, who was suffering from a medical condition. He was unable to return to the band and passed away on April 15, 2020.

The Simpsons busied themselves with other projects for a couple of years, including Night Legion with former members of Dungeon and Lardner-Brown continued with his other bands. In 2017 Darker Half reconvened with Daniel Packovski of Pänik in place of Lardner-Brown. If Only You Knew was released in early 2018 by Massacre Records. Live appearances were limited during the COVID pandemic, and Simon Hamilton left the band in late 2021. Jimmy Wynan took his place and Darker Half supported Geoff Tate in Europe in 2022.

Discography

Albums:

2009	Duality	Independent
2011	Desensitised	Rock Star
2014	Never Surrender	Rock Star
2020	If You Only Knew	Massacre

EP:

2006	Enough is Enough	Independent
2016	Classified	Independent