Nightscape - Symphony Of The Night

*=Staff's pick	Haunted Hill* Higher Than Life* Merlin* Across The Sky* Home The Serpent King Rage Divine Curse And Damnation* Symphony Of The Night*

Genre	Power/Heavy Metal	Simon Åkesson	Vocals
Tracks	9	Pontus Åkesson	Guitar
Runningtime	43 Min.	Joakim Wiklund	Guitar
Label	Lion Music	Stefan Widmark	Bass
Release	12 Sept. 2005	Marcus Sundquist	Drums
Country	Sweden	Tyler Voelz	Keyboards
Similar artists	Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Power Quest

The Nightscape story began in the year 2000 in the town of Skellefteå along the Baltic Sea coast in northern Sweden. The founding members Simon Åkesson and Joakim Wiklund had musical education at college and one day during one of many jamming sessions they came up with a few riffs and recorded it on computer. The idea to start a band of their own was born and even though five years have passed the band still consists of really young musicians, between the ages of 18- 20. That's not an evident factor in their music though, since this has a much more mature sound than you could expect when looking at their birth certificates. But don't let describing words like Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Celesty, neoclassic inputs, Malmsteen inspiration and happy symphonic metal be discouraging here dear readers. Even though that's the kind of power metal Swedish Nightscape deliver on their debut Symphony of the Night I still urge you to keep reading. This is namely no copycat getting down to business or just another one of those mainstream bands categorized as initially described. No, on the contrary Nightscape is a six piece that has enough quality and above all, a majority of great tracks and an outstanding musicianship to really stand out among the many other bands that are trying to go down this beaten and overpopulated road.

From more neo-classical edged tracks like the opening Haunted Hill and Curse and Damnation to the speedy power metal numbers Higher Than Life and Across the Sky and to more solely happy metal songs like Home, Nightscape provide an almost endless abundance of melodies and harmonies. The band just doesn't seem satisfied until the guitars and keyboards that work in perfect unison have shifted between as many great melodies as they can possibly can within each number. The guitar playing by Åkesson and Wiklund shows serious proof of extremely Malmsteen quick as lightening fingers and also seriously good work in the more "standard" playing this kind of metal usually contains. Very often the tracks contain at least minute long interludes and solo-sections and together they put on a very good metal show. The symphonic keyboard playing makes me think of Celesty but it's also possible to draw some parallels to Power Quest when the heavier fashion of this instrument is used. This in aspect, Nightscape is therefore one of the bands you ultimately also hope some day will release an instrumental album even though the band also has a very good vocalist. Simon Åkesson has a nice clean soaring voice that more than once makes me think of more well known singers like Michael Kiske and Timo Kotipelto. Åkesson though really stays much more on note and is not even close to Kotipelto's false and out of tune parts which is a very relieving input. He does sound a little more restrained in the verse of the speedy The Serpent King and maybe he could come up with a more varied repertoire next time but otherwise he's certainly doing a great debut performance. The production also follows the metal pattern in this category with its crystal clear features but maybe it could have seen a little more power in the bass and drum sections. Otherwise it's a very good one, more than sufficient for a debut album and a very suiting atmosphere has been created.

This entire issue reminds me very much of Timeless Miracle, not in musical aspects, but in terms of freshness and new and positive vibe I strongly felt this area of the metal scene really needed with Sonata Arctica and Stratovarius not nearly delivering at their peaks anymore. Light, speedy and symphonic are three very good describing words of Nightscape and the strong vitality delivered really puts me in a very good mood. These youngsters give the impression of having endless potential and already have all the components necessary to build something even better from based on their solid and technical musical skills. Fans of Sontata Arctica, Stratovarius, Virtoucity, Celesty and Power Quest surely will get more than they bargained for with this album. It's got enough class and great compositions to really be a strong contender for entering my top 10 list of the year. Trust me here folks, it really is that good and not only does Nightscape in many ways surpass their counterparts in mainly Finland, they also set the norm on how power metal in this category should be delivered.

Production	Vocals	Compositions
8,5	7,5	8,5

Summary
8 chalices of 10 - Mat