This pedal most certainly needs a good amp and a cabinet to go with. Otherwise, it'll sound somewhat harsh and muffy if you crank the gain knob too much. The EQ is kind of meh, and the "voice" switch does little to compensate for the lack of mid-frequency controller, because the change in its two positions is barely audible (up - slightly more mids, down - slightly drowned mids).
It's a good pedal to shape your tone a bit while adding a considerable portion of distortion to be later nuanced further by your amp. It's not the best pedal for starting your heavy tone, however, due to its somewhat peculiar and specific sound.
I'd recommend trying it out in real settings - borrow it from someone for a few moments, or find it somewhere in your local shop to see if you'd want that kind of sound. I wasn't expecting it to be exactly what I needed, but it's a fine addition to my newly started pedalboard, anyway.
Initially, I was torn between this one and the "Fangs Metal Distortion", but Fangs seemed more like a set of typical metal tones and I wanted something more to experiment with, without those limitations of having only super-distorted sound.
Dark Matter Distortion is capable of acting as an overdrive pedal, or, I'd say, it's somewhat in-between those overdriven and distotrted sounds. It has a nice warm and fuzzy feel to it when cranked to higher gain levels, which can be very suitable for something like sludge and stoner metal/rock, or some experimental indie stuff.
