Sometimes it is nice to simply press play on an album and get exactly what you expected, no gimmicks, no trends, just a good old energetic thrashing from start to finish. Nightrage led through thick and thin by Marios Iliopoulos have been a constant example of this principle since 2000 and are now releasing album number 9 and what a ride they have had, shedding somewhere in the region of 30 musicians as far as recorded and live output is concerned. Some of the greats have passed through their revolving doors, among them Tomas Lindberg, Bruce Leclerq, Gus G, Snowy Shaw, Nicholas Barker and Jesper Strömblad. This should give you an idea, if they passed you by, of what to expect from them and that’s melodic death metal which despite their Grecian ties has all the tropes one would expect from the Swedish riff lords who conceived it. Yes, At The Gates are particularly notable stylistically even down to the course vocal barks from their founding father but that’s not a problem as far as those of us who have journeyed with them are concerned. Like they say, if it ain’t broken, why try to fix it?
Here they romp and rage through 13 tracks in 39 minutes, only one overreaches the 4-minute mark and the only real pauses are a couple of short atmospheric instrumental breaks. The players seem to have all survived since last album ‘Wolf To Man’ in 2018 and comprise of artists from Greece, Sweden and of all places Venezuela making them a truly international act. Having been into them since 2003 debut ‘Sweet Vengeance,’ where the band were embraced and brought to our attention from Century Media, no doubt due to the participation of singer Tompa, I entered the Abyss of the title track and immediately found it wrecking my neck. Bombing straight in with pounding drums, flailing riffs and twin guitar harmonics as well as snarling terrier rasps from the vocals. Whereas certain bands have evolved and changed significantly over the years we are very much caught in a time-warp here, one where bands like Arch Enemy, In Flames et al were perfecting their craft. There are hooks aplenty to reel you in by, a snatch of cleaner vocals and backing chants are subtle in their use and there’s a bit of early Soilwork about songs like ‘Swallow Me.’ Be prepared for some slightly cheesy melodies that the band get away with due to the overall power and are more likely to leave you grinning than groaning. They are best at full pelt with stand out ‘rager’ ‘Nauseating Oblivion’ which has a bit of a fast Hypocrisy vibe about it along with some serious neo-classical shredding. Embracing Greek mythology, the romping velocity of ‘Dance Of Cerberus’ stands up to anything you hear back in the day and the scorn and spite of the vocal delivery speaks for itself.
The interludes may break up the cut and thrust and the sheer zeal of the never standing still guitar frenzy but they give the listener a brief respite before its back to the next neck-wrecking deluge. Personally, I would have lost second of these ‘The Divergent’ but that’s personal choice. The apocalyptic ravaging of ‘Shadows Embrace Me’ melodically takes me back to ‘Reroute To Remain,’ the turning point for an aforementioned band before they went for stadium superstardom. The only real problem is keeping focus as things steamroller over you and if you don’t pay attention, it’s all over in a flash. Essentially if you are looking for a fast ride on a ‘Pest Ridden Tide’ it’s all here, just be prepared for an emergency appointment with a chiropractor when it’s over.
(8/10 Pete Woods)
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