French heavy metal frontrunners, Nightmare, have shared a brand new single, the opening track "Nexus Inferis" of their forthcoming, twelfth studio album Encrypted, due out June 7 via AFM Records.

"Today we are very excited to share with you our second single, ‘Nexus Inferis’... taken from our forthcoming album, Encrypted!" The band comments. "This track is our album opener and has a hell of a riff matched with catchy melodies on the whole song. Lyrically, it is highly connected with the ‘Encrypted concept’: What if the end was just the beginning or a passage to hell (inferis)?"

Founded in 1979, Nightmare have been an integral part of the European metal scene for the past three decades, and have been prolific with their album releases, all the while updating and evolving their sound.

The band released eleven much acclaimed studio albums and toured worldwide, playing some of the biggest metal festivals like Wacken, Hellfest, 70000 Tons Of Metal, Motocultor Open Air or Gods Of Metal, and supporting the likes of Def Leppard, Sabaton, Saxon, Grave Digger and Blind Guardian to name just a few. 2020 saw Nightmare release their latest album, Aeternam, via AFM Records. At the end of 2022, the band parted ways with singer Madie and welcomed their new, exceptional vocalist: Barbara Mogore, who transcends Nightmare onto a total new level.

As the band states: “…We have decided to move to new heights in terms of musical approach to make Encrypted our most ambitious album to date in terms of production, musical direction and achievement… You can find here some traditional power metal riffing in the trademark of Nightmare but also extreme metal parts and some highlights even reaching melodic death metal… making Encrypted our most varied opus so far, beyond all boundaries and expectations…”

Encrypted was mixed and mastered in Simone Mularoni’s Domination Studio in Italy. Preorder at the AFM Records webshop.

Tracklisting:

“Nexus Inferis”
“The Blossom Of My Hate”
“Voices From The Other Side”
“Saviours Of The Damned”
“Wake The Night”
“Encrypted”
“Incandescent”
“White Lines”
“Borderlines”
“Eternal Winter” (2023 Version)

"Nexus Inferis":

“Saviours Of The Damned” video:

“Eternal Winter” (2023 Version):