Metal Reviews

Thunderbeast
NIGHT IN GALES



Night In Gales are :
Björn Gooßes on Vocals
Jens Basten on Guitars
Frank Basten on Guitars
Tobbe Bruchmann on Bass
Christian Baß on Drums

The tracks are :
1. Intruder
2. Darkzone Anthem
3. Perihelion
4. Crystalthorns Call
5. Feverfeast
6. The Shadowchamber
7. Thunderbeast
8. I Am The Dungeongod Blackfleshed
9. The Dustcrown
10. Stormchild Heralds Of Starfall
11. From Ebony Skies (Thunderversion)

German Five piece Death Metaller's Night In Gales return with their long awaited (and some might say overdue) follow up to 'Towards The Twilight'.

I have noticed of late more and more bands spend longer in the studio between albums than ever although on one hand that may seem a little frustrating from the fans point of view, but if the end product is generally of a higher standard then that can only be good for both fans and the bands.

Night In Gales and Thunderbeast fit the above statement very well, as Thunderbeast is surely a killer!
Night In Gales brand of death metal is best described as at the melodic end of the scale with just a hint of 80's thrash popping up from time to time especially on the guitar parts. Couple this with a vocal style of deep screaming rather than the conventional growl (the vocals remind me a little of the Cradle Of Filth's Danni, just not so high pitched), then why not add some special effects for good measure and for the grand finale quote Macbeth between songs to give the whole a really even flow.

You only have to listen once and you will realise how the band have matured as musicians and songwriters. 'Intruder' kicks the whole thing into life with a real effects feast, planes flying overhead, bombs going off, the sound of gunfire, people screaming in pain, a total picture of carnage before 'Darkzone Anthem' brings this wonderful metal feast to life.

Now I know I have said this before, and I don't mind saying it again, this album works very well because it has this even flow to it, each track fits so well with the next that the 54 mins length of this album seem like 10 and your left breathles with the only thing left to do is play it again.

And that is what I have been doing ever since I received this copy of Thunderbeast and I still have this strange feeling that Thunderbeast will make many more trips to my CD player before the years out.

Thunderbeast is a Killer!!!
Highly Recommended!!!

Released by Nuclear Blast Records, Haupstrasse 109 - 73072 Dusseldorf. Germany
Tel : +49 7162 92800
FAX : +49 7162 24554
Website : NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
Email : death@nuclearblast.de

or
P.O.Box 43618. Philadelphia, PA 19106. USA
TEL : +1 215 9230770
FAX : +1 215 9239166
Website : NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS AMERICA
Email : mail@nuclearblast-usa.com

Buy The CD

 

"Nailwork"

Night in Gales

 

What's that pounding in your head you ask?

Well nothing too much to be concerned with, just the driving rhythms and hammering beats being forcibly driven into your skull!

Compliments of Night in Gales, Germany's modern-day answer to those inventive early English torture devices used for employing cruel and insufferable punishment to society's lawbreakers.

In fact, there ought to be a law against this kind of audible abuse!

"Nailwork" is the third LP from Night in Gales, the Death Metal outfit that really hit their stride with "Thunderbeast" two years prior.

"Nailwork," track by track is violently relentless, humorously revealing-"All Scissors Smile," "How to Eat a Scythe,"-and sharply direct. take a gander at the front-cover images-those ain't wood screws they're playing with here! In raising the bar for extreme aggression, they've withheld slightly more of the melodic grooves and vocal harmony that prevailed upon "Thunderbeast" in making it so majestically impressive.

Others of their time have since tried and mostly failed to match this work of such magnitude. Sadly, this includes Night in Gales themselves in this case, though "Nailwork" does have it's moments-"Nailwork," "Blades to Laughter," "Filthfinger," but it's a little too one dimensional in spite of the frequently Goth-orientated strains that belie several of the pre-chorus segments.

Alannah Myles must be turning in her grave at about this point after the savage shredding given her "Black Velvet" midway through.

Oh, that was her career that died, not actually her. Well she would if she was, trust me. It's a horrific cover anyway; the next tune "Filthfinger" is totally better as it strides step for step with the best of their last.

Testament-like riffing and frequent major/minor chord changing sends shockwaves into the night where sounds of death can also be heard echoing freely about, enveloped in a convulsive assembly-line beat that sounds too technically contrived to further what was an already expansive delivery.

"Nailworks" is thankfully not the ascension into progressive/techno many of the like have conspired to produce but neither does it retain those finer elements that made their last record such a highlight!

Released by Nuclear Blast Records, Haupstrasse 109 - 73072 Dusseldorf. Germany
Tel : +49 7162 92800
FAX : +49 7162 24554
Website : NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS
Email : death@nuclearblast.de

or
P.O.Box 43618. Philadelphia, PA 19106. USA
TEL : +1 215 9230770
FAX : +1 215 9239166
Website : NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS AMERICA
Email : mail@nuclearblast-usa.com

Review By Vinnie Apicella

Buy The CD