NIGHTRAGE - The Puritan
May 12, 2015, 8 years ago
(Despotz)
The Puritan is the sixth album from these Greek melodic death metallers and first with vocalist Ronnie Nyman. The Greeks are definitely in good hands with him in tow and it helps that Nyman is helped with blazing, pounding riffs and tasteful guitar leads. Nyman has great control with his voice. The first two tracks show just what he is about when causing chaos in the thrashing “With A Blade Of A Knife” and the cage rattling title track.
The Puritan excels because Nightrage know when to throw in melodies and when to keep the aggression flowing. There are no whiny types of choruses that break up the rhythm of a track. Guitarist Marios Iliopoulos saves the hooks with his solos. “Desperate Vows” (sung by Darkane vocalist) and “Endless Night” are threaded with acoustic outros and is like the cherry on top for these studded tracks. “Lone Lake” is a mellow, melancholic instrumental interlude that is very well done. Sort of reminds when Black Sabbath threw in their little ditties on their records. The album clocks in at 37 minutes but it could it have been cut down even more with the uninteresting/standard fare “When Gold Turns To Rust” and “Fathomless”. All in all though, this is a scorcher and here hopes the band can continue on with Nyman at the helm.
