NIGHT – Soldiers of Time review

NIGHT – Soldiers of Time

Gaphals Records

http://heavymetalinthenight.com/

I can usually understand when a new band tries to play old school heavy metal and when we deal with a band from that era. This time, though, I had a hard time with NIGHT, because they made me believe that is a lost release coming straight back from the 80’s. The fact is, however, that NIGHT were formed in 2011 and “Soldiers of Time” is their sophomore album.

THE COVER: Lately I have seen some original and very beautiful covers of heavy metal albums and the cover on the NIGHT CD is among them. It shows an Indian shaman with his hands glowing and above him the head of an owl. On the background you can also see an ancient Aztec city (probably).

MUSICAL STYLE: The band states in the info sheet that accompanies this release that they wanted to explore the heavy metal sound of the early 80’s and believe me they are quite accurate on what they say. The band’s sound draws influences from such bands like early RIOT, DIO, RAINBOW, JUDAS PRIEST, MERCYFUL FATE and also they brought to my mind bands of their own country (Sweden) such as PARASITE, ZONE ZERO and HEAVY LOAD. All these influences are filtered though through the personality of the musicians that participates in NIGHT.

COMPOSITIONS: “Soldiers of Times” includes 11 compositions that as I mentioned above sound like they come straight back from the 80’s, but they also are fresh and in a way innovative. The leads and the melodies, but also the solos are all rooted in the 80’s and in such an original way that make NIGHT stand out from other bands that play old school metal.

CONCLUSION: When a contemporary band makes me believe that it comes from the straight 80’s… When the compositions don’t sound like cheap imitations of the 80’s, but have originality and are full of inspiration, then we talk about a great release, that every fan of 80’s metal should have in his/her disk collection. I am sure that this release will create a great sensation amongst the heavy metal fans.

Nick “Verkaim” Parastatidis