Element – Darrell Stanton 7.75”

I have no idea how this happened. Element started life as Underworld Element, super dope team, banging graphics and a hardcore street edge. After a decade of going back to nature rather than the streets we arrive at this point - flamingo graphics!

Darrell Stanton is undoubtedly a solid member of the all star cast over at Element and his decks just keep on shipping out, so I popped this lil' beauty together and headed down to Royal Oak to give it some street park action.

First thing that hit me (after I got over the tweaky graphic) is that the tail seemed a little flatter from the previous deck I rode (SantaCruz) and it took me a few minutes to get used to popping ollies. Once I adjusted to the mellow tail, I found my ollies floating a lot longer than they did with a sharper tail - I guess there is some math in there somewhere, but as a skater i'll skip the nerdology and move on...

Huge nose's on a board is always a good thing, especially for long nose manuals, the concave is very firm, not too deep - and the wood as ever is one of the crispest pops on the market. The ply itself is very thin, making it a light ride, I think on a gnarlier street it would wear quite quick, but in the park, its lush. Handled a few nollie disasters without following the same fate as the last deck (board in 2 pieces)

This deck is pretty rad, and thankfully the paint underneath is quite powdery and is coming off very quickly! All in, another solid Elemental delight, as long as Element keep planting the tree's i'm sure Stanton will keep on pinging out huge backside heels and good shapes to boot......works for me just fine......

8/10

Philip Procter

For a short/recent interview with Darrell, click here.