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01. Call Out to the World 03:48
02. Never Again 03:19
03. Not the Only 05:17
04. Tell Me 04:14
05. Not Like You 04:26
06. Leave Me Alone 03:01
07. Till I Come Alive 03:47
08. Strong Enough 03:13
09. Me 04:13
10. Pain & Pleasure 03:53
11. Fools Parade (Outro) 02:38
line up
1990- Fredrik Mannberg - guitars
1991- Nils Eriksson - bass
1996- Nils Norberg - guitars
1999- Owe Lingvall - drums
2000- Jonny Lindkvist - vocals
Typical for acts like Nocturnal Rites; people who do not like this band from the beginning hardly get to know this band because of the enormous amounts of good power metal releases during the past 10 years. But, this is already the eighth album by these Swedish metallers. Of course the album title suggests this. Since the second album I am a great fan of Nocturnal Rites, but to be honest, I can not say why. As said before, the music is not very striking or special and NR plays the same kind of power metal for more than ten years. But still, I always have thought better of NR that of that famous Swedish act; Hammerfall. I often run into comparisons between these acts. Then why do I consider NR a better act than Hammerfall? First of all, the vocals; Joacim Cans is of course a very good singer, but is outclassed by Jonny Lindqvist, vocalist by NR since the 'Afterlife' album. His voice is rawer and considerably more powerful. He can also add more emotion and passion in his voice. NR's music itself is also more emotional because they do not just sing about dragons and knights. The music is more catchy and more touching too.
As said these Swedish guys make the same kind of power metal for more than ten years, the power metal version of Bolt Thrower. On the other hand, far more bands know this problem, examples are Hammerfall, Gamma Ray, Freedom Call, Sonata Arctica (not listened to the latest album yet) and Edguy. Of course this is no problem when the music is good enough to fix your attention, like most of the music performed by these acts is. NR has thus the same problem, whereas I had hopes of a different approach by the album 'The Grand Illusion'. The songs on this album were more obscure, longer and more aggressive than on previous albums. Next to that, Naglfar vocalist Kistoffer Olivious added his terrible screams on 'Cuts Like A Knife'. I expected this trend to be continued, but no, unfortunately this is not the case.
So what can we expect from the eighth sin of NR? They are back to the music performed on albums like 'Afterlife', 'Shadowland' and 'New World Messiah'; that is convincing, but little varying power metal.
The songs a considerably shorter at an average of 3, 5 minutes. The obscure elements are gone and there are surely no black metal screams on the album, instead of this we get a (well) performing lady as guest vocalist on the obligatory balled which was not present on the previous album. In comparison to the previous album this one shows no progression, instead even some decline. Is this thus a superfluous album? No way, NR plays good power metal, that will never be a point of discussion. The album is filled with beautiful, dramatic, melodies, good solo's, breaks and a lot of variation in pace. As said, singer Jonny Lindqvist performs is a magnificent way. The band distinguishes itself somewhat from their colleagues by the more aggressive approach of the music and vocals, more touching songs and lyrics about other things than dragons.
For fans of the band, there is no doubt, this is more than descent power metal. For people who do not know this band I will sum up some songs that make me shiver anyway. 'Not The Only One' is a 'wavering', heavy, emotional song with adorable displeased vocals. 'Tell Me; is a real heavy metal song with an excelling Jonny. Same counts for 'Leave Me Alone'. 'Till I Come Alive' is more touching with an epic chorus. Best song, to my opinion, is 'Strong Enough' with a beautiful chorus, emotional vocals, heavy guitars and lots of power. So this album has not become the smasher I expected it to be, but it is in no way a sin. For fans there is doubt, they can buy the album blindly and I sincerely hope more people are doing to discover this band. However, the previous album might be more suitable for that purpose.
02. Never Again 03:19
03. Not the Only 05:17
04. Tell Me 04:14
05. Not Like You 04:26
06. Leave Me Alone 03:01
07. Till I Come Alive 03:47
08. Strong Enough 03:13
09. Me 04:13
10. Pain & Pleasure 03:53
11. Fools Parade (Outro) 02:38
line up
1990- Fredrik Mannberg - guitars
1991- Nils Eriksson - bass
1996- Nils Norberg - guitars
1999- Owe Lingvall - drums
2000- Jonny Lindkvist - vocals
Typical for acts like Nocturnal Rites; people who do not like this band from the beginning hardly get to know this band because of the enormous amounts of good power metal releases during the past 10 years. But, this is already the eighth album by these Swedish metallers. Of course the album title suggests this. Since the second album I am a great fan of Nocturnal Rites, but to be honest, I can not say why. As said before, the music is not very striking or special and NR plays the same kind of power metal for more than ten years. But still, I always have thought better of NR that of that famous Swedish act; Hammerfall. I often run into comparisons between these acts. Then why do I consider NR a better act than Hammerfall? First of all, the vocals; Joacim Cans is of course a very good singer, but is outclassed by Jonny Lindqvist, vocalist by NR since the 'Afterlife' album. His voice is rawer and considerably more powerful. He can also add more emotion and passion in his voice. NR's music itself is also more emotional because they do not just sing about dragons and knights. The music is more catchy and more touching too.
As said these Swedish guys make the same kind of power metal for more than ten years, the power metal version of Bolt Thrower. On the other hand, far more bands know this problem, examples are Hammerfall, Gamma Ray, Freedom Call, Sonata Arctica (not listened to the latest album yet) and Edguy. Of course this is no problem when the music is good enough to fix your attention, like most of the music performed by these acts is. NR has thus the same problem, whereas I had hopes of a different approach by the album 'The Grand Illusion'. The songs on this album were more obscure, longer and more aggressive than on previous albums. Next to that, Naglfar vocalist Kistoffer Olivious added his terrible screams on 'Cuts Like A Knife'. I expected this trend to be continued, but no, unfortunately this is not the case.
So what can we expect from the eighth sin of NR? They are back to the music performed on albums like 'Afterlife', 'Shadowland' and 'New World Messiah'; that is convincing, but little varying power metal.
The songs a considerably shorter at an average of 3, 5 minutes. The obscure elements are gone and there are surely no black metal screams on the album, instead of this we get a (well) performing lady as guest vocalist on the obligatory balled which was not present on the previous album. In comparison to the previous album this one shows no progression, instead even some decline. Is this thus a superfluous album? No way, NR plays good power metal, that will never be a point of discussion. The album is filled with beautiful, dramatic, melodies, good solo's, breaks and a lot of variation in pace. As said, singer Jonny Lindqvist performs is a magnificent way. The band distinguishes itself somewhat from their colleagues by the more aggressive approach of the music and vocals, more touching songs and lyrics about other things than dragons.
For fans of the band, there is no doubt, this is more than descent power metal. For people who do not know this band I will sum up some songs that make me shiver anyway. 'Not The Only One' is a 'wavering', heavy, emotional song with adorable displeased vocals. 'Tell Me; is a real heavy metal song with an excelling Jonny. Same counts for 'Leave Me Alone'. 'Till I Come Alive' is more touching with an epic chorus. Best song, to my opinion, is 'Strong Enough' with a beautiful chorus, emotional vocals, heavy guitars and lots of power. So this album has not become the smasher I expected it to be, but it is in no way a sin. For fans there is doubt, they can buy the album blindly and I sincerely hope more people are doing to discover this band. However, the previous album might be more suitable for that purpose.
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