Nightfell - The Living Ever Mourn

Written by Kevin Page.


Kudos to Islander of No Clean Singing for putting this one on my radar. Nightfell, featuring the duo of Tim Call (The Howling Wind, Weregoat, Aldebaran) & Todd Burdette (Trauma, Warcry, Tragedy), have created something very potent. I know of some of the bands these chaps are already in, but I don't listen to any of them and they hold no special affinity in my heart. So going in I really had no expectation (good, bad or indifferent), which is always the best way to approach new music.

It screams of a doomier version of Edge of Sanity (more specifically the Purgatory Afterglow album, especially in the production department). The guitar has a nice balance of fuzzy tone, fat bottom end and warm juiciness. Vocally this rests somewhere between Dan Swano (sorta) and your typical full on war metal cavernous hellfire type. This mixture though gives it its own distinct character. And since the vocals are not overly dominant in the mix, it allows everything to breathe more than you are used to these days.

So while this is mainly a doomy to mid paced death metal album, it's injected with a dash of American style, some clean spoken passages, acoustic guitar, and a sprinkle of black metal as we get near the end. I wouldn't call this genre defying or anything outside the box, but who cares. It feels fresh, utterly convincing and damn enjoyable.

Also, they are very liberal with their use of 'pick slides'. Me likes 'pick slides'.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]