Guitarist Nils Norberg leaves Nocturnal Rites

J-Man

J-Man

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Jan 11, 2005
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Guitarist Nils Norberg has announced his departure from the Swedish melodic metal band NOCTURNAL RITES.

"I have decided to lay down the guitar as my interest for music kind of cooled down the last years," he writes in a statement. So I'm not a part of NOCTURNAL RITES anymore. It's just because of myself. I decided to do this and it has absolutely not been a bad feeling in the band in any way. I don't know how or if I will go on with music, but I will take a break from the guitar that has been taking up all my waking time the last 20 years. The band will always be a second family for me and I'm not closing the door to play with them again if it would be an opportunity and I would have the urge to play again. I think the band will go on and will still make kick ass music both live and in the studio. I just wanna say thanx to the band for the best times in my life and to all the nice people I met and partied, destroyed, laughed and kicked ass with along these 12 years in the band. Thanx so much! Take care and maybe we meet again somewhere!"

The band comments: "The remaining members would like to extend a huge thank you to Norberg for his time in the band and wish him all the best! We respect his decision but hope he finds his way back to music. Applicants interested in replacing Norberg are of course more than welcome to email us their demos at guitarist[at]nocturnalrites.com."


This is a shame.
 
Damn thats a hard one. Nils is a special kind of player with a unique talent, not a run of he mill shredder. Hope he finds his way back before to long, he may regret it...

Bear
 
Hold on, wasn't he suppose to wait until Nocturnal Rites was announced for PPX? That seems to be the way it usually works. Way to break protocol.

Seriously, I loved Nils playing, but if he feels stagnate and wants to move on to something else, more power to him. Looking forward to seeing who will replace him. Nocturnal Rites is a great band and I STILL want to see them play ProgPower.
 
Bummer...............This is still one band I would love to see at ProgPower. Glen, please get these guys next time around.
 
That is a bummer. He was a unique player in the genre. I could always tell it was him when I heard a song with him on it. Good stuff. I hope this doesn't impact the songwriting too much. I have REALLY enjoyed their last 3 or 4 albums.
 
J-Dubya 777 said:
Damn, what's with all these band things this weekend? Glad I got to see him with NR @ Powerfest a couple years back, was a GREAT show. :(
Click to expand...

Agreed. Their performance at Chicago Powerfest may have been the single greatest power metal performance I have ever seen. I am surprised they haven't followed up with a proper North American tour, either as a headliner or co-headliner.

Unfortunately, the 8th Sin was not a solid follow up to the brilliant Grand Illusion, though I would still love to see them live again.
 
Jasonic said:
Agreed. Their performance at Chicago Powerfest may have been the single greatest power metal performance I have ever seen. I am surprised they haven't followed up with a proper North American tour, either as a headliner or co-headliner.

Unfortunately, the 8th Sin was not a solid follow up to the brilliant Grand Illusion, though I would still love to see them live again.
Click to expand...
Very true. I hope their next CD is better than the 8th Sin.
 
I saw them in support of Shadowland and don't understand... they did a good show but I wouldn't rank it in my top 10 or even 20 shows of all time.

Their old singer was far superior too. I know this isn't news about the singer, just sayin' that the first three discs were far better than anything since.
 
DoomsdayZach said:
I saw them in support of Shadowland and don't understand... they did a good show but I wouldn't rank it in my top 10 or even 20 shows of all time.

Their old singer was far superior too. I know this isn't news about the singer, just sayin' that the first three discs were far better than anything since.
Click to expand...

Sure.....that's if you like Manowar-lite with Joey Tempest on vocals. I think that they shifted into a higher gear with Afterlife. Great band!
 
DoomsdayZach said:
I saw them in support of Shadowland and don't understand... they did a good show but I wouldn't rank it in my top 10 or even 20 shows of all time.
Click to expand...

Where was this show? In Europe I assume?

Well, I only saw them once, so I can't compare it to any other performance of theirs. They went on stage, and played a completely flawless, no BS set.
 
DoomsdayZach said:
I saw them in support of Shadowland and don't understand... they did a good show but I wouldn't rank it in my top 10 or even 20 shows of all time.

Their old singer was far superior too. I know this isn't news about the singer, just sayin' that the first three discs were far better than anything since.
Click to expand...

They put on a blindingly good show at CPF a couple of years ago, which is when most of us saw them...

Of course, I completely disagree with your singer statement, as well, so I suspect we have totally different opinions of this band...
 
I was front row for their Wacken performance in either 02 or 03. Their keyboardist at the time was one of the ugliest humans i've ever seen. :lol:

And again, it's not that they did a poor job. It's just that there was absolutely nothing extrodrinary about their performance. They were a competant power metal band and i can think of at least 10 other bands off the top of my head who put on a better live show, more than likely many more if i sat down to think about it.
 
Jasonic said:
Agreed. Their performance at Chicago Powerfest may have been the single greatest power metal performance I have ever seen. I am surprised they haven't followed up with a proper North American tour, either as a headliner or co-headliner.

Unfortunately, the 8th Sin was not a solid follow up to the brilliant Grand Illusion, though I would still love to see them live again.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on this 110%! Would love to see them at ANY fest, or on their own here, be it a support slot, or package tour.......
 
This is a major disappointment. Seeing Nils live really turned me onto his playing style. There are very few guitarists in the power metal field that play with such distinction. I wish the band the best of luck in finding a worthy replacement.


Stay metal. Never rust.
Albert
 
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