Review of Nightfall - I am Jesus

One very cool thing about this gig is that I have been exposed to more types of metal in the last three weeks than I had in the previous three years. I mean, the odds of my stumbling across a Nightfall before this were slim, at best. A Greek Black Melodic Chuggah Chunk and Keyboard...band...thing, Nightfall does the kind of power chord happy metal that makes me wish I still had an espophogas so I could tip a few. This is not complex music for complex people, but it's also not boring or ametuerish by any stretch. Instead of going batshit with the riffs, the band prefers the almighty power chord, and frankly it's a style that gets them where they want to be. The disc starts off strong with "Death of Niera", a mid tempo headbanger with some killer drum work. The production is very good and really puts you in the music. The singer's voice is about what you would expect with "black metal" style, sort of scratchy, four-days-with-a-cough, and his cadence compliments the songs most of the time. The guitars are not overly enormous sounding, but not thin sounding either. The bass is normally happy to keep its heel on the root note, but occasionally cuts loose and shines. The drummer is very good, not ostentatious but lively. This group sounds like musicians who know they can play and are more interested in what the song sounds like than what other musicians will say about them later. "A Pale Crescendo of Diamond Suns" is a strange little number, with spoken word parts that sound like they are leading you into a long and tedious "epic". But the band plays it smart and lets the idea run its course, then moves on. This made me smile - they got me. The next song, "Luciferin (What if Men Could Bear Masters?)" is a whispered lyric over a running little bass line that ends up with huge power chorus...sometimes the band toes the cheese line - sometimes they step over it just a scoatch. "I'm Freaking Out...I am Freaking out..." thus speaks vocalist Efthimis Karadimas. I just don't expect to hear a greek black metal singer using bad 70's jargon in that accent and voice. Ever wish people had to record in their native tongues when they made albums? Epics seem to be the goal of the latter half of the record. I sense a passing similarity with Dimmu Borgir at times, but these guys stick to the mid paced tempos and chords. I have to admit my attention waned as the record moved on. Whereas the first few tracks were keeping me interested from beginning to end, after a time the cuts all started to lose me. Not to the degree that I lost interest entirely, or wanted to listen to something else, but the level of intensity in the experience did drop. And whatever they are doing in the loooong ending of "I've never dreamt the life we share" could, perhaps, have ended a few dozen measures earlier to better effect. Bottom line: This is a good record, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes somewhat basic but nevertheless moving and thoughtful music. It's not the best thing I have heard, and it's not really my style (as far as I know - the more I am exposed to different styles, the less I can say this), but it kept me with it from beginning to end. It's well produced, well performed, just offbeat enough to entertain, but still familiar in a lot of ways. I will definitely listen to this again.

Release Details

Nightfall

I am Jesus

Comments

Related