Nightfall - Astron Black and the Thirty Tyrants (2010)

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When we where thinking where the hell have we heard of this band before, it immediately hit us that the band had a song (“Black Leather Cult”) in the epic “The Holy Bible” compilation album of Holy Records back in 1996. Fast-forward almost 14 years and, several releases and a brief break up and we have Nighfall back with only one of the original members: Efthimis Karadimas, now only on vocals.

“Astron Black and the Thirty Tyrants” marks a very impressive release of this Greek band on Metal Blade Records. Since you start listening to this album, you immediately know that it will surely be an interesting experience. With a very interesting Melodic Black/Death Metal sound, the band quickly brings back of some of their older releases on Holy Records, because of the odd combination of powerful riffs, different vocals (clean and growls), and the elevated us of keyboards.

The band’s sound gets a bit difficult to describe since every song in this release has different elements that makes them standout from the rest. But the core of the band’s sound is the trademark growl from Efthimis and the very peculiar guitar riffing that we haven’t heard in quite a while since bands like On Thorns I Lay and such. Another band that comes to our minds in terms of comparing Nightfall to is Darzamat in their “In the Flames of Black Art” and “In the Flames of Black Art” era.

After a very hypnotic intro song, the album kicks into full gear with the Sympho-Black Metal anthem “Astron Black”. The majority of the guitar riffing is essentially Black Metal-like surrounded by brilliant keyboard atmosphere that while sounding ‘symphonic’ it has a less pretentious nature than in bands like Dimmu Borgir. This song is one of our favorites from this release because of the wide variety of aspects to it and the brutal nature that quickly shifts into a melodic side.

Another song worth noting in s “Ambassador of Mass”, a song that starts very melodic with a nice guitar line and simple keyboards, only to explode into a full on majestic atmospheric piece that features a very Dimmu Borgir-like sound. Here the band showcases their abilities of crafting epic songs and decomposing them into several ‘parts’ that feature from aggressive riffing to majestic synth orchestrations, all in the span of 4 minutes.

“Astron Black and the Thirty Tyrants” is probably one of the richest and most diverse releases we have heard in quite a while and we are glad that Nightfall is back to spread their crazy musical ideas to all Metal heads. If there is one Symphonic Black/Death Metal album that you should spend your hard earned money on, it’s definitely this one. This release is full of surprises that will add to the replay value of this release.

Band: Nightfall Album: Astron Black and the Thirty Tyrants
Label: Metal Blade Records

Release: August 31st, 2010

Official Site myspace
Genre: Symphonic Black/Death Metal

Country: Greece

Rating: 89/100
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