Nightmare – France’s metalpioneers goes way back in time – all the way back to 1979, when it was originally founded. Debutalbum was released in 1984, and after their second album release in 1985 the band went on a large hiatus and returned to the scene in 1999. From here, you could say the road has been filled with obstacles – difficult endings with members and change of recordlabels didn’t make it easy for them, but they decided to come back stronger than ever. Now the band consists of Maggy Luyten on vocals as well as Olivier Casula on drums.
The album starts off with an epic opening which emerges into a heavy and fairly aggressive, yet melodic tune that I fell in love with already at first listen, “Infected”. This is the kind of song I’d easily put in a festivalplaylist, or more as, already have. It’s easy at times to look too much into musicianship – is this new enough, is this advanced enough, when sometimes, all you need is a good mood in the song.
The album continues on in the same vein – it’s heavy, it’s aggressive but with the small tint of melody that makes classic heavy metal exactly that. It’s a consistent album that doesn’t really have any low points at all – but instead a few peaks, one being “Seeds of Agony” that simply got me.
When listening to the album, I can’t help but notice it’s a bit heavier than the more previously released albums, which in this case is actually a good thing. I can admit right away, I wasn’t having too high expectations on this album, but it was very, very good and very enjoyable. It’s a very headbang friendly album, while still showing up some supreme talent and skills within the band.
However, what I really fell in love with is Maggy’s voice. She has one of those powerful voices that just knocks you over and yet give you chills all over, her vocal work in “Tangled in the Roots” is simply phenomenal. When listening through this album, I found myself being enchanted by her voice, just taking it in. They made a really good choice in replacement singer, that is for sure.
This album was a lot better than I actually expected it to be, and I’m very glad that I got the chance to review it – it’s just that good. I can warmly recommend this to everyone, you’ll love it.
(Label: AFM Records)
// Sara
Sara Hammerzmith 