Nightfall – At Night We Prey
7/10
I get a slight itch when I hear an intro at the start of an album. I have to admit, I do not find any point to them. It is a waste of a minute in most cases. On an album that is expressed to be a themed album, telling a story and it has a purpose, sure. But just for the sake of it as in this case, just leave them out instead.
There we go, grumpy old dude has had his say. We can now move on to the more important task of actually reviewing the actual music on this album.
10th release from this Greek band that has not released anything since 2013 (Cassiopeia). The bands page on their label´s domain describes Nightfall as blackened death. Ok, I can find some of those references, but I do find a lot of this album to be quite melodic in nature. Towards death, maybe at a giant stretch I would call this black metal. But who am I to judge, call it what you like. As an album it is a quite nice 46 and change minutes of listening (apart from intro).
With the notion that this album is inspired by Efthimis Karadimas battle with depression, you get that. This is not a happy album. The feeling you get all the way through is just that of doom and gloom. In everything from the tormented melodic guitars to the anguish and pain in the delivery of the vocals this is portrayed and delivered. Where there still are keyboards and electronic elements present, they serve a purpose for filling out the picture of the sound as a whole if you like. But they do not take a great piece of space. The guitars do that job with a more persistent presence and authority.
There are some really nice riffs and layers as a read tread all the way. But the title track stands out a bit more. Here you get clear Paradise Lost references in the darkness and melodies of the song. There are some more interesting tempo-changes here as well. The album is a bit one-sided regarding tempo.
All in all a nice album that neither lifts or sinks but is a completely ok album and more then sufficient level of quality to warrant the 7 out of 10 points for me.
Band: Nightfall
Title: At Night We Prey
Label: Season Of Mist
Date of release: 2021-03-05
Rate: 7/10
Stand out track: At Night We Prey
Country of Origin: Greece
Playing time: 46:12
