NOCTURNAL RITES „Grand Illusion”

Band Website: www.nocturnalrites.com
Band Label: www.centurymedia.com
Country: Sweden
Genre: Power Metal

Hammering double-bass drums, dueling guitars, a very talented lead singer, and solos that are intense, and fast paced with lots of whammy bars with melodies that are rampant on this record. That's what you can count on with Nocturnal Rites and their latest release on Century Media.

Being an old school metalhead I had heard of Nocturnal Rites but never sampled their music, I had always shy'd away because of the name of the band. You see the bands name sounds to me like a great name for a Death Metal band. Nothing wrong with Death Metal but its just not my bag. From a recomendation from a metal forum buddy I surfed on over to their website and downloaded the video for 'I'm Still Alive'. I was totally blown away, I thought… “Now heres a power metal band I can sink my teeth into!”

The song starts with heavy riffs, a tight chorus and then a little over 2 minutes in they rip your ears off with a killer
axe solo and then its back to the hook and a smooth finish. Norberg is faster than a speeding bullet and very clean in
technique as well. Very refreshing that there's still a few bands out there that “get it”! Every song on the album is
solid as a rock from start to finish with singer Jonny Lindquist nailing it everytime. The album is filled with the more progressive sounding '80s styled melodic arena rock/metal.

As infectious as ever after a decade long career, this five-piece outfit deliver ten tracks of some of the most passionately catchy melodic metal to date with Grand Illusions. The Fredrik Mannberg / Nils Norberg guitar interplay is viscerally captivating. That said, its pretty hard to pick just a couple examples of where this musical interplay that is more prominent than another.

Nocturnal Rites concentrates their momentum and harmonious melodies on this effort with notable talents on loan. Stellar talent including such names as Kristoffer Olivius from Naglfar, Jens Johansson of Stratovarius, and HammerFall's Stefan Elmgren, complete with Axel Hermann of In Flames/Dream Evil fame supplying the cover art on this powerful opus. What more can you ask for? Highly recommended!

note: 9.75/10

Tracklist

01. Fools Never Die
02. Never Trust
03. Still Alive
04. Something Undefined
05. Our Wasted Days
06. Cuts Like A Knife
07. End Of Our Rope
08. Never Ending
09. One By One
10. Deliverance

Line-up

Jonny Lindkvist – Vocals
Fredrik Mannberg – Guitar
Nils Norberg – Lead and Rhythm Guitar
Nils Eriksson – Bass
Owe Lingvall – Drums