Back in the 1990's, melodic death metal was pretty much created and dominated by the Swede's, the Gothenburg scene churning out acts like In Flames, At the Gates, Dark Tranquility, Soilwork, and a few others, who carried the torch for many years and inspired thousands of extreme metal bands worldwide. However, there was some pretty solid stuff happening in other areas of the world, in this instance Germany, where a young band called Night In Gales was scooped up by Nuclear Blast Records and released their debut Towards the Twilight in 1997. Much like In Flames, Night In Gales borrowed a bit from the NWOBHM, specifically Iron Maiden, so there's plenty of dual harmony guitar parts here to go along with the effective death metal riffing, manic drum work, and growling vocals.
Reality is, there's much to like here, such as the mixing of acoustic folk with death growls on "From Ebony Skies", the wonderfully melodic extreme metal of "Razor" and "Towards a Twilight Kiss", and the precise, almost technical death metal of "Autumn Water", and "Through Ashen Meadows". At times you'll hear hints of early Opeth as well, as the band mixes in weaving instrumental passages amidst the pummeling, yet everything always stays melodic and classy. Tasty guitar harmonies on a tune like "Avoid Secret Vanity" don't come around too often, guitarists Frank & Jens Basten in perfect synch with each other and creating a monstrous slice of melodic death that rivals just about anything in the genre released at that time.
Metal Mind's reissue comes with the complete 1996 EP Sylphlike as bonus tracks, these songs not as crisp as the ones from their Nuclear Blast debut from a production standpoint, but still possessing much of their musical might and songwriting prowess. This is all housed in a charming digipack with restored artwork, photos, lyrics, and essay on the band, and an interview with the band as they look back on this debut. Good stuff and worth checking out if you missed it the first time around.
Track Listing
1) Towards a Twilight Kiss
2) Of Beauty & Embrace
3) Razor
4) From Ebony Skies
5) Autumn Water
6) Slavesun
7) Through Ashen Meadows
8) Avoid Secret Vanity
9) Tragedians
Bonus Tracks from the 1996 EP Sylphlike
10) Bleed Afresh
11) Sylphlike
12) Avoid Secret Vanity
13) Mindspaw
14) When the Lightning Stars
15) Flowing Spring
Printer Friendly Page
Send to a Friend
