Nocturnal Rites - Afterlife

*=Staff's pick	Afterlife* Wake Up Dead The Sinner's Cross* Hell And Back* The Sign The Devil's Child* Genetic Distortion Sequence Sacrifice Temple Of The Dead Hellenium

Genre	Power Metal	Jonny Lindkvist	Vocals
Tracks	10	Fredrik Mannberg	Guitar
Runningtime	45 Min.	Nils Norberg	Guitar
Label	Century Media	Nils Eriksson	Bass
Release	11 Sep. 2000	Owe Lingvall	Drums
Country	Sweden	Mattias Bernhardsson	Keyboards
Similar artists	---

The 4th album by Swedens best(?) band came as a total metalsmack in the face for me. I adored them enough as it was back in the days of the mid-90's, with their neverending stream of catchy tunes in the best of the "happy metal" spirit. But now when new singer Jonny Lindkvist came into the picture, and the music at the same time took a slightly heavier and darker approach, it turned out beyond good. This album is an orgy in one metalpearl after the other, and I consider this a classic album already and will be mentioned when I later in life sum up how the first decade of the 21st metalcentury started.

The typical Nocturnal Rites song consists of a very fat and marvellous riff, very catchy yet aggressive and powerful vocals which is building up to a very melodic refrain. The titletrack is a perfect example of that, and sets a distinct mark for the rest of this album right away. Guitarsolos of the best kind are also present, as well as a constant feeling of being overwhelmed by something mighty when listening to this and letting yourself being carried away to a higher place for three questers of an hour.

Standout tracks are basically all of them, with Afterlife, The Sinner's Cross, Hell And Back and The Devil's Child as the peaks in this 45-minute orgy in great metal. The balance between the fast songs, who are in majority, and the more midtempo ones are perfect, and the albums feels varied, even though some might say that the difference between this album and the one that came after is too small and almost nonexisting.
I am of the opinion that if music is as wellplayed and vital as this, than it justifies the existance of the two side by side.

As earlier mentioned, singer Lindkvist has a very big part in making this as good as it is, and in my eyes he can be compared to the likes of Jorn Lande, DC Cooper or Johnny Gioeli for example. His voice doesn't at all sound like theirs, and he doesn't quite reach their heights, but he has and radiates the same carisma, pondus and strenght.

It is impossible to point out a single weak point on this album, cause there are simply not any. The only thing that holds back that last, half chalise is the fact that the few songs in midtempo are lacking just that little extra to be just as good as the others on the cd. This album is just as good as their latest effort Shadowland, which became Album of the Month here at Metal Covenant last year. Even after at least 30+ listenings the album still feels fresh and on-the-spot, and I always ask myself why I don't listen to it/them more often.

It is obvious that the members in the band has developed a great deal as musicians, and I think it's amazing that this band hasn't reached higher ranks than they have, because this is solid, powerful, heavy metal with strong melodic elements. Isn't that what we all love? If you are in for fat, melodic power metal you have to have this cd. There are no reason or any excuses that are valid for not being in the possession of it.

See also review of: Grand Illusion , New World Messiah , Shadowland

Production	Vocals	Compositions
9	10	9,5

Summary
9,5 chalices of 10 - Tommy