NOCTURNAL RITES - Afterlife
September 25, 2000, 23 years ago
(Century Media)
Thankfully, I haven't been too overwhelmed with much power metal lately, so I thought I might be able to get into this new Nocturnal Rites CD. I quite enjoyed their Tales of Mystery and Imagination disc of a couple years back, but the follow-up, The Sacred Talisman just annoyed me and seemed pretty phony. That same feeling overwhelms me again upon listening to Afterlife. Although the bio would have us believe otherwise, this sounds pretty much the same as their previous efforts. The new singer Jonny Lindkvist isn't really blowing any minds with his child-like yowl, and the songs are still by-the-numbers retro power metal. The band seemed to have learned some new "on/off rapidly" effect in the studio, so often you'll hear a quick burst of that on the guitar or vocal tracks, making you check your speaker wire to make sure it's holding together fine. Other than that annoyance, the production sounds fine. Stupid, stupid cover art. This disc does get a few points for flying the flag of metal though. Unless you're a diehard NocRite-Head, which you probably aren't, better to stick with the tried and true, Helloween being the first band that comes to mind.
