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Sweden's
Nocturnal Rites are perhaps one of the most fun Power Metal bands
contributing to the scene at the moment. Their latest release "The
8th Sin" is made up of a mixture of catchy and addictive chorus,
easy likeably and upbeat melodies, and just a good feeling of enjoyment
and fun throughout the album. Having said that this is a record
made up of 11 tracks all contributing to a serious and mature sound
which the Swede's have perfected over their 17 years of existence.
Although
a hugely enjoyable album to listen to (and I'm sure anybody who enjoys
catchy and upbeat metal will agree), the album has it's weak moments as
well as it's many strong moments. While the first half of
"The 8th Sin" is a flawless barrage of instantly likeable and
instantly memorable tunes, towards the latter end of the album filler
tracks start to appear, and unfortunately bring this album's overall
appeal down just a few levels, although by no means do they ruin it, in
this case quality prevails over the 1 or 2 lesser moments.
Opening
track "Call out to the World" is one of those tracks that I
could listen to repeatedly for hours on end, each time in anticipation
of that chorus, easily one of the highpoints of this album, and most
albums that I've heard so far this year. "Call out..."
is your classic star studded metal album opener, hugely impressive lead
guitar work, catchy and top class vocal work from Johnny Lindkvist,
while not losing any of the heaviness displayed throughout the album.
Follow up song "Never Again" is a cool straight out mid tempo
rocker, with Lindkvist's vocal work again taking centre stage with a
chorus that you'll find very hard to shake off once you've heard this
track. It has that good time feel that would made it a perfect
candidate should Bon Jovi look for anyone to submit songs for their next
album (not that Bon Jovi's recent work has been anything but top class
:P). "Not the Only" is another mid tempo moment.
Bringing out an epic side to Norcturnal Rites, it's a 5 minute +
mournful ballad style track with constant great lead guitar presence and
a somewhat slow burning chorus.
"Tell me" brings the tempo back up to where it kicked off
from, and gives the listener a reason as to why Nocturnal Rites are
often likened to Germany's kings of Power Metal/Hard Rock - Edguy.
If this song was anymore rocking then it could be deemed by some as
dangerous, but it gets the balance down quite well, and provides another
album highpoint. Album highpoints are plentiful on "The 8th
Sin", and another is served up in the forum of the next two tracks;
"Not like you" and "Leave me Alone". The
former continues the hard rock sound shown in previous tracks and shows
just how good Nocturnal Rites are upon the release of this album. It's
an absolutely clinical hard rock song, taking no prisoners and
succeeding in delivering an anthem made for head-banging and painfully
acrobatic air guitar poses.
"Til I come Alive" is yet more proof of how good and important
Nocturnal Rites are at the current moment. A dramatic stadium
ballad with all the trademarks of the bands who Nocturnal Rites cite as
influential, made great thanks to another atmospheric chorus courtesy of
Lindkvists hugely impressive voice, alongside a "wind machine set
to stun" guitar solo by Nils Norberg.
Throughout the album Lindkvists vocals really do stand out, he is now
without doubt one of the top vocalists in the Power Metal scene, and in
a genre where vocals are the difference between a great band and a good
band (in my opinion!), Nocturnal Rites are lucky to have him.
While I must be starting to sound like a broken record in my description
of these songs, there really isn't much else that can be said apart from
that fact that they're so catchy and so damn cool!
"Strong Enough" treats the listener with another chorus fit
for bringing any metal fan to their knees, while still retaining enough
dignity to get up and head-bang along to this in your face slab of
metal. A moment to catch your breath is provided in the shape of
emotional power ballad "Me", a majestic and mellowing
combination of soft piano work with Lindkvists tear filled voice,
accompanied by mournful female backing vocals. A break from the
tempo perhaps, but the level of quality music remains sky high.
This level takes a bit of a beating once "Pain & Pleasure"
comes on. Not a bad song by some peoples standards I'm sure, but
on an album where fast, catchy, upbeat, emotional songs are the norm,
"Pain and Pleasure" is quite dull and mid tempo, with none of
the previous emotion displayed anywhere. It's a slight dampener but by
no means does it stop "The 8th Sin" being anything but a top
quality album.
The album closes with "Fools Parade", an instrumental outro
track, which offers a few moments to reflect back on a really great
album but the long running Swedes. There are essentially no bad things
about this album, only one or two aberrations from the catchy upbeat
feel, but that's nothing to worry about. "The 8th Sin"
is a great album full of great songs, great musicianship, and top class
vocals ... A great album by the on fire Nocturnal Rites, here's to
the 9th sin!
* Review by Shadow Warrior.
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