Photo courtesy of Nightfell
Nightfell’s new album is so, so good. The guitar tone alone is worth writing a sonnet about (or at least a very thoughtful, measured review, which I will not be doing because I spent all day weeping over Lemmy and don’t have time now). What I can do, though, is tell you what a colossal putz you’d be for ignoring this album. It’s a death metal album with big ambitions; it doesn’t reach for the psychedelics like your Morbus Chrons or go glam like your Tribulations, but it also ignores the caverns and the murk and the Golgolthan apery that consumes so many other millennial death metal bands.
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It takes a tone ripped straight out of Bolt Thrower’s rehearsal space, adds a black metal edge, and forges ahead into majestic melodic territory (the closing track, “Collapse,” out-My Dying Brides My Dying Bride). This dynamic cleverness is unsurprising given the band members’ pedigree—Todd Burdette’s tenure in Tragedy, His Hero Is Gone, and Warcry and Tim Call’s time spent with Aldebaran, Mournful Congregation, Sempiternal Dusk, and Saturnalia Temple mean that both of them surely know their way around a dark, foreboding riff.
The proof is in the pudding, and we’re happy to help you dig in—check out our exclusive stream of Darkness Evermore (out September 11 via the excellent 20 Buck Spin) below, and grab your preorders on CD or vinyl while you’re at it.
Kim Kelly loves this band. She’s on Twitter – @grimkim
