Nocturnal Rites - Grand Illusion
Century Media Records - CD 77592-2 - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
There's something very strange going on when a cover of Bryan Adam's 'Cuts Like A Knife' can be considered the heaviest song on a metal album. But then again, melodic/power metal is a pretty strange genre, and Swedish veterans Nocturnal Rites manage to up the oddness ante even further on their seventh album by having three-time Swedish skiing champion Per Eloffson contribute a guitar solo. Either someone laced my promo copy's cover with LSD, or I'm gonna have to suspend my disbelief for a while here...
Grand Illusion, then. As previously mentioned, this is the quintet's seventh album, so one would expect them to operate like a well-(baby?)oiled machine by this point in their career - and you'd be right. The licks are slick, the production polished to a sparkle and the hooks so catchy you'd think they'd cross-bred with the SARS virus. Opening cut 'Fools Never Die' pretty much screams 'lead-off single', and whispers 'slow-motion effect with pyro on the video, please' for good measure. Elsewhere, though, Nocturnal Rites serve up more metallic fare - coming off like a more thrash-infected and vital Hammerfall on tracks like 'Still Alive', or summoning a vaguely Arch Enemy-esque weight behind the aforementioned Bryan Adams cover (distorted vocals, too).
Generally speaking, previous Nocturnal Rites fans are gonna lap this up, because they know exactly what they'll be getting - a solid, enjoyable power metal album that manages a nice balance between power-ballads and speedy, up-tempo adrenaline chargers. Jonny Lindqvist's pipes are as impressive as ever (the vocals are refreshingly absent of extreme falsetto wails), and the riffs and solos are a cut above the likes of Hammerfall's by-the-numbers fiddling. Those looking for more originality, however, would be best advised to look elsewhere.
6.5/10
Official Nocturnal Rites Website
Official Century Media Records Website
Century Media Records - CD 77592-2 - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
There's something very strange going on when a cover of Bryan Adam's 'Cuts Like A Knife' can be considered the heaviest song on a metal album. But then again, melodic/power metal is a pretty strange genre, and Swedish veterans Nocturnal Rites manage to up the oddness ante even further on their seventh album by having three-time Swedish skiing champion Per Eloffson contribute a guitar solo. Either someone laced my promo copy's cover with LSD, or I'm gonna have to suspend my disbelief for a while here...
Grand Illusion, then. As previously mentioned, this is the quintet's seventh album, so one would expect them to operate like a well-(baby?)oiled machine by this point in their career - and you'd be right. The licks are slick, the production polished to a sparkle and the hooks so catchy you'd think they'd cross-bred with the SARS virus. Opening cut 'Fools Never Die' pretty much screams 'lead-off single', and whispers 'slow-motion effect with pyro on the video, please' for good measure. Elsewhere, though, Nocturnal Rites serve up more metallic fare - coming off like a more thrash-infected and vital Hammerfall on tracks like 'Still Alive', or summoning a vaguely Arch Enemy-esque weight behind the aforementioned Bryan Adams cover (distorted vocals, too).
Generally speaking, previous Nocturnal Rites fans are gonna lap this up, because they know exactly what they'll be getting - a solid, enjoyable power metal album that manages a nice balance between power-ballads and speedy, up-tempo adrenaline chargers. Jonny Lindqvist's pipes are as impressive as ever (the vocals are refreshingly absent of extreme falsetto wails), and the riffs and solos are a cut above the likes of Hammerfall's by-the-numbers fiddling. Those looking for more originality, however, would be best advised to look elsewhere.
6.5/10
Official Nocturnal Rites Website
Official Century Media Records Website
