Sweden’s fashion of going back to the early 80’s in both musical style and dress code couldn’t be more suited to this band. Night went back to the future to reinvent their self-proclaimed 80’s heavy metal before ’81 attitude as the PR spiel states on previous releases, damn right too, although I think they’ve graduated to ’83 in some quarters on this new album! This is pure hard rock, fist pumping adrenaline racing music starting with some triumphant tracks like ‘Waiting for the Time’ and ‘Across the Ocean’. The key here are the hooks, which are present in bucket loads, especially during the chorus’. If you are going to be really picky, then I would say that sometimes the vocals attempt to higher note and lose projection, but hey, it all works in the spirit of the music, all in all, this is an easy release to listen too.
You won’t find any double bass work, any growls of retribution or rebellion or anything like that, its cleaner, more refined classic material for young people with a passion for the brighter side of music, and the classic metal stalwarts of the music scene too! Less metal than Sweden’s Bullet, but a touch more metal than say Krokus or Tesla, I suppose in some quarters you can reflect some Heavy Load influence, something I really find rewarding. There is an art to Night’s arrangements too, you can have both sides of the coin with most songs. Emotion and feeling with reflection, and on the flip side balls out fist banging tunes to drive your car too way over the speed limit. A perfect balance of light and shade.
‘Towards the Sky’ is an acoustic led folk inspired driving tune, much like the closer ‘Stars in the Sky’. I suppose the best way to describe ‘Soldiers of Time’ is that of an album that could quite easily fly under the radar, but then bursts into life at the flick of a switch and you get a eureka/light bulb moment. There is certainly more to this album than any first impression would give, so give this one some time. A lot of the coolness comes from the cool vocal tone of “Burning Fire” aka Oskar Andersson who also revels in some deft simplistic guitar work.
For a group whose members were born in the early 90’s, this is a cool album harking back to a favoured period of hard rock and metal music for many. It doesn’t always have to be about extremity, Night engage their time and yours with some simple but effective early 80’s inspired European hard rock/metal and long may that continue!
(8/10 Paul Maddison)
Leave a Reply