Darkest Days is the third album released by industrial rock band Stabbing Westward on Columbia Records. The album was recorded in L.A. in 1997 and released on April 7, 1998. Although the album didn't achieve the same level of success as Wither Blister Burn & Peel, it received positive reviews and is often considered the band's best album.[5] The band was dropped from Columbia Records in 2000 following this release. The track "Save Yourself" reached number 4 on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart (the band's highest-placing single on that chart) and number 20 on the U.S. Modern Rock chart and remains a staple of alternative music. Darkest Days was certified gold on March 1, 2000.[6]
Darkest Days is a concept album consisting of four acts, with each portraying a different emotional phase gone through after a break-up. The first act (tracks 1–4) is about sabotaging the relationship. The second act (tracks 5–9) is about lust, hope, and longing. The third act (tracks 10–12) is about hitting rock bottom after it is all over. The fourth act (tracks 13–16) is about recovery and self-respect.
"The Thing I Hate" was featured in the commercial and introduction sequence of the 1998 PlayStation video game Duke Nukem: Time to Kill. It was later included on the Duke Nukem: Music to Score By soundtrack in 1999. Noah Antwiler of The Spoony Experiment used the song as his outro piece for the final segment of his review of the 1999 PC game Ultima IX: Ascension in 2013.
"Haunting Me" appeared in the 1998 science fiction horror film The Faculty.
