I have been tracking this band for a while now, this is traditional metal from Sweden and features members of Horisont and Miasmal who combine to provide a multitude of NWOBHM and straight up metal influenced by the likes of Judas Priest. The easiest comparison by far is Christian Mistress, but for this I find Night Viper have much stronger female vocals courtesy of Sofie Lee Johansson. Not quite Leather Leone, but still metal enough with a bite that gives energy.
The bands signature tune is a full force metal assault, whilst just over half of ‘Curse of a Thousand Deaths’ is much doomier and eerie until this relinquishes the metal titan later on too. ‘Run for Cover’ is a catchy tune that has your head banging (the PR material does promise many “bangovers”!) and the ace on the pack for me is the track ‘Warrior Woman’. Whilst maintaining a slightly sinister approach, there’s a few “Electric Eye” rhythms mixed in to keep the gods of real heavy metal happy.
Having already made their name via appearances at Muskelrock for example, it’s only a matter of time before they hit more of the mainstream market. The songs are strong enough and in fact a touch better than some of their peers I might add. Admittedly, this did not hit hard till the second or third play through, but once you’re with Night Viper, you are in a good place. ‘Night Viper’ brandishes true heavy metal and adds a slice of the sinister side of the human mind with the doomier elements but as an album, yes, bangover complete, this works.
(8/10 Paul Maddison)
03/12/2015 at 9:31 am
This album was a game changer for me, really threw a spanner into the works when assembling the dreaded end of year list!
I fell in love with it the first listen through!