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Nocturnal Rites > The 8th Sin > Reviews
Nocturnal Rites - The 8th Sin

Sinning against the word "sin" - 48%

Brainded Binky, December 31st, 2014

Nocturnal Rites started off as a death metal band, ended up as a power metal band, and still managed to create some great stuff. However, once "The 8th Sin" rolled around, everything changed. There were still traces of power metal, but there is something a little off about it. The band seemed to pursue a more bizarre sound, one that would enrage most diehard fans to no end. Let's get this over with; this is "The 8th Sin".

When I mentioned "bizarre", I mentioned the fact that it's more pop-based than power metal. Give "Never Again" a listen, and the very first few seconds are nothing but synthesizer noise and drum machine beats. Definitely not my definition of power metal, I must say. They might try and make it more power metal-like, but with the catchy choruses that sound more appropriate for the next Beyonce single totally defeat the purpose of the song being "power metal". The fact that the lead vocalist's voice is modified with a vocoder just at the beginning of the second verse only adds to pretentiousness of this sugary garbage. "Not the Only" would've been a fine song, but the synthesizer noises during the verses totally ruin it. The keyboard riffs are nothing special either, they play a little melody that I'm pretty sure I've heard in songs from other, much better power metal bands that have been recorded years prior. On it's own, it would've actually been a pretty decent song, but again, they just had to add all of this stuff, and thus, it's reduced to a joke.

As a matter of fact, pretty much all of the songs on "The 8th Sin" would've been great, and the album would've been a good but not great one that some power metallers would either love or hate. But do I need to remind you of all the glossiness that this album has been contaminated with? All of the songs seem to have a thing with drum machines at the beginning, or during the verses of all the songs. That would work just right with Fall Out Boy, but with Nocturnal Rites? Nuh-uh! At least when Blind Guardian changed their sound, they added an orchestra to emphasize their songs, but Nocturnal Rites have introduced trying to fuse top-40 pop music with power metal, a combination that works just as well as a combination of Tarja Turunen and Nicki Manaj would. It's just a horrendous mess. Without all of the glossy pop stuff, the songs would be great power metal gems, cos they have the power metal-style riffs, they've got some pretty good vocals, so why try and "improve" it by adding all of the things that would turn it into bubblegum pop? Seriously, if you heard the first few seconds of "Strong Enough" and heard the drum machines and synthesized voice and synthesizer noises, would you interpret that as power metal? I sure wouldn't!

Nocturnal Rites was still a good band even when they shifted subgenres completely, of course they had to wait until this very album for them to start "selling out". Look, I really don't care if, say a thrash or death metal band changes its style to a power metal or groove metal band, just so long as any of that material is any good. "The 8th Sin" is not a good album, however, but it would've been if....yeah, you get the idea.

Nocturnal Rites is dead. - 18%

Empyreal, December 12th, 2007

A lot has been said about this one already, so I'll just cut to the chase: I don't know what happened to this band after The Grand Illusion, but I'm guessing it started in a bar and had something to do with chloroform, dirty rags and a dark alley, because this drastic of a stylistic change is extremely difficult to undergo between just two albums, especially from such a veteran band. On the surface, this is still Nocturnal Rites, as we have the same modern, polished production, the same vocals, and the same musicians behind him, but the decline in songwriting is akin to the steep decline achieved by shoving an elephant off the Grand Canyon. This is the sound of a band completely bereft and bankrupt of songwriting power and musical integrity, and it's nothing less than sad and pathetic.

The 8th Sin is a pop-rock album with little to no "metal" in it at all, and the band's songwriting is on a very elementary and juvenile level that would ashame and embarrass most bands. This is very pre-processed and sterilized music, with layers upon layers of synths and sampling and vocal distortion to hide how simplistic and banal it really is. This is still easy on the ears and listenable, but so is most contemporary pop music, and when you consider the fact that all of the good parts here are lifted from various Kamelot songs, it really doesn't lend much weight to Nocturnal Rites' side of the argument. All of the songs here are shallow as hell, and eventually they all blur into a faceless mass that will speed by you faster than your baby brother's runny nose on a December afternoon. Not one ounce of emotion is raised here in the entire 40 minutes of the disc's runtime. Every song is more or less a race to get to the chorus; no clever buildup or structuring here, and the choruses are obviously the only parts of this album than the band put any work into. Just look at it - every song reaches its chorus before even a minute of the duration is up. Did I mention that there are almost no songs here longer than 4 minutes?

I'm at a loss for words at this point. I'm not even angry with Nocturnal Rites, because this record is just too pitiful to really have any contempt for its creators. I feel like I've caught the band with their pants down, as this is a desperate band whoring itself out to the mainstream for a quick buck and some attention. As I said, I won't claim this is unlistenable or the worst album ever, but it is certainly a major disappointment. Worst album of the year? No. Disappointment of the year? Definitely. I don't know the story behind this one, label bullshit or not, but Nocturnal Rites are dead. Dead and buried. Skip this one, folks, as it almost unravels every good thing this band ever did.

Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com

A rather pathetic failure - 40%

Radagast, June 29th, 2007

That it took until their 8th CD for Nocturnal Rites to run aground is not the most disappointing thing. The real let-down is that after 7 CDs, the least of which being no worse than average, for them to turn out a wreck like 'The 8th sin' is almost shameful.

Let it be known right from the start that it shouldn't make any difference which era of the band you prefer out of the more traditional Anders Zackrisson-fronted first 3 releases and the increasingly polished later efforts that have featured Jonny Lindqvist – 'The 8th sin' would be seen as an immensely disappointing CD from any band that enjoys a reputation like Nocturnal Rites.

Taking a step back, the CD that preceded this one, 'Grand illusion', can almost been seen as a triumph over its origins. As good a CD as it is – and it is very good – it's easy to see not only that Nocturnal Rites had started to run out of inspiration, but were also in pursuit of a more simplistic approach. Nearly every song on the CD followed the same pattern – being all around the same length, the same speed and featuring a solo in the same spot every time. The only song that broke from the pack slightly was "Cuts like a knife", which was a blatant (if very enjoyable) rip-off of Kamelot's "March of mephisto", right down to the Jens Johansson keyboard solo.

What not only saved 'Grand illusion', but also turned it into one of the best power metal CDs released that year, was the sheer strength of the melodies and the heroic vocal performance of Lindvist. That the listener may not even have noticed if the lead parts, vocals and smothering keyboard arrangements were lifted from one song and dropped over the rhythm guitar, bass and drums of another wasn't important – with nearly every chorus an anthem in itself and the songs all dragged along by powerful melodies, they managed to turn out another quality, if somewhat formulaic CD.

And this is exactly where 'The 8th sin' fails. The songs all come from the same stable as those on 'Grand illusion', but feature virtually no lead guitar or memorable riffs at all, with only the choruses seeming to have any effort put into them. Interchangeable verses that run over arbitrary power chords are the blight of this CD. Nils Norberg, a phenomenal lead guitarist, is used virtually the same way on every song – a painfully short solo in the same place nearly every time. All his contributions are well played of course, but they are so short and unconnected to the rest of the song they feature in that it feels as though Norberg was sent into the studio to record a handful of solos which were later dropped at random into the finished songs.

Coupled with the reduction in the presence of the guitar is the choruses becoming even sweeter and more hummable than before. Huge choruses are of course almost essential in power metal, but there is a line between anthemic and simply poppy that has to be respected, and that line is certainly crossed more than once on the CD.

To make up for the lack of riffs and, in some cases, actual music going on in the songs, the band have taken the bizarre step of throwing some programmed beats into the mix. Not that electronic elements in metal are inherently a bad thing, but it really is something that has to be left to the experts. Dark Tranquillity can pull it off, but on songs like "Tell me" and "Strong enough" it literally sounds like the session keyboard player accidentally leaned on the 'rhythm 2' button during recording - it really is lunk-headed and needless as that.

In addition to the programming, there are a few desperate attempts to mask the sheer crushing repetitiveness of the songwriting. The female duet vocals that appear from nowhere and add nothing to the piano ballad "Me", the admittedly excellent opening solo tacked onto the front of "Not like you" that swiftly disappears into another sound-alike verse, and of course the ever-present thick layer of keyboards are all simply window dressing that any experienced listener could see through from a mile away.

The question presents itself – why would a heavy metal fan want to listen to a song with minimal guitar presence and electronic beats? The answer is that they wouldn't – but a commercial rock fan with a spare few quid in his back pocket just might. This is a serious allegation to level at a band of Nocturnal Rites' standing, but with songs like the "Till I come alive" – basically an Evanescence song with Linqvist on vocals – there really seems to be no other way of looking at it.

In fairness, there are a couple of moments here and there that call to mind better days – the opening track "Call out to the world" and "Not like you", the only real instance of heavy drumming on the full CD, wouldn't sound out of place on "Grand illusion". Other than these 2 shining moments, only a couple of choruses almost rescue their respective songs on the strength of Lindqvist's vocals. But it takes more than a memorable chorus to make a quality metal song - whether doing that is a concern of Nocturnal Rites anymore is up for debate.

(Originally written for http://www.metalcdratings.com/)

A sin ... a sin upon metal. - 8%

BloodIronBeer, June 29th, 2007

Whoa, Nocturnal Rites just keeps going downhill. Well, it's more like they went downhill fast, and when they got to this album, fell off the edge of a cliff.

I've been waiting for them to turn themselves around, but everything since Shadowland has just gotten worse and worse. Increasingly radio-friendly, and decreasingly complex, this music is juvenile to the point where I honestly think I'm listening to an album that belongs to a young teenage girl.

To say that the lyrics are contrived would be an understatement. Even the track titles are third-rate garbage that a 13 year old thinks up when he's two weeks into learning to play guitar.

Did anyone else notice these titles: Never Die, The Flame Will Never Dies, Never Again, Never Trust, Never Ending, Fools Never Die ... okay, we get the point. Get a new word. It's especially pathetic that three of the titles contain the words "never" AND "die".

The drumming is the absolute basic. There aren't even fills or powerful beats to speak of. They might as well take the drummer out and use a metronome. The riffs are deplorably weak. Not a single one on the whole album sticks. How can anyone acclaim this utter tripe? Every single song with maybe the exception of one goes into the chorus within the first 50 seconds of the song, and there is normally only a silly intro riff, and a verse preceeding it. And the intro riff is based on the verse riff. The chorus of course is the heart and soul of the music. A plastic radio friendly chorus devoid of power wedged in at every available moment. To say this is watered down chorus-oriented power metal at it's worst, would be putting it mildly. There is nothing to bridge the riffs together, just some daft keyboard effects, and you'd expect most bands to break away, and play one, two, three more riffs, but what does Nocturnal Rites do? Without playing a solo, a drum fill, not a vocal pattern, or anything else that doesn't mimick one of the other two riffs in the song with the keyboard, they drop right back into the chorus. Seriously - unbelievable. It's like listening to the most lowbrow, horseshit pop music I could find on the radio. That's the level that this song writing is on.

There are a couple guitar solos, and they're decent. But frankly, 6 guitar gods playing their best solos in these songs could hardly save them from the pungent cesspool of musicianship they're steeped in.

The songs display the most fake type of emotion - again, like what we'd find in pop or emo. Corny, self-loathing crybaby dung delivered with lyrics so obsenely philistine that if I were a publishing company I would refuse to publish their lyrics until they advanced beyond an elementry level of word choice and phrasing.

I take back what I said about there being not a single memorable riff - the opening riff to Pain & Pleasure is pretty cool. But, it happens to also be the verse, and chorus riff. Opps, Nocturnal Rites forgot that a song requires more than one riff. The only other possibly redeeming quality of this hopeless failure is Jonny's voice. I really am fond of his voice, but I don't even like the melodies he's singing so scratch that.

At least New World Messiah had a couple catchy tunes, and some wicked bridge/refrain parts. At least Grand Illusion had a few heavy, ballsy tracks. This? This has nothing.

I loathe deeply bands like this (or at least what this band has become), the ones I've often refered to, or reviewed as being bands that disgrace the name of power metal. In fact, with bands like this being so popular, if people hate power metal, I absolutely can't blame them. This is complete and utter drivel. A trainwreck of a musical undertaking.

Avoid like the plague ... unless you like pop.

Watered down, but not bad. - 66%

hells_unicorn, June 28th, 2007

Apologetics for unpopular bands can be a risky business, perhaps even more so when an underrated band seemingly alienates their small yet passionate fan base. However, in the case of Nocturnal Rites’ rather chaotic career, steeped in several stylistic shifts within the power metal box of catchy choruses and unchained melody, this is the order of the day for someone like me who owns and defends their entire discography. Be that as it may, I have to concur with the majority of opinions I’ve heard thus far in that this is NR’s weakest release to date.

Although previous efforts has seen this band experimenting with keyboard sounds and off-kilter studio drum effects, going all the way back to the pre-Jonny Lindqvist album “The Sacred Talisman”, on the band’s 8th album the studio gimmicks are actually interfering with the metal edge that is usually on full display. “Strong Enough” in particular puts way too much emphasis on pro-tools manipulated drum tracks and synthesizer ambiences, resulting in something that sounds half-metal/half-techno. While the song itself is not overtly offensive, it is not something that really moved me the way the rough edged speed tracks on “Afterlife” or the epic sing along tracks on “Shadowland” did.

Most of the songs on here are merely good and lacking in power, which is something that I’ve never encountered on an NR release. “Till I come alive”, “Tell Me” and “Me” all sound like Evanescence songs with Jonny at the vocals and a more competent lead guitarist, they are enjoyable enough but they lack the power of the metal genre and also the entrancing front-woman that is my principle reason for liking said band. The last of the three has a backing female vocalist who really might as well not be there; she plays support and hits notes that Jonny could hit himself with little trouble.

The only things that keep me coming back to these songs, which would otherwise only occasionally be listened to, are Jonny’s vocals and Nils Norberg’s lightning fast lead attacks. Although Nils has kept his leads short since the end of the Anders Zackrisson era, he gets the job done and gives the song the proper amount of flavoring to keep it from being too spicy. One of the highlights of this album is the closing track “Fool’s Paradise”, which is a synth steeped instrumental lead attack on the part of Norberg that reminds me a lot of Patrick Rondat’s latest conceptions on “Ephemeral World”.

The rest of the music on here is closer to older Nocturnal Rites, but still possessing the occasional synthesized interludes that may offend the pure metal fan’s ear. “Not like You” and “Call out to the World” take the better elements of what is heard on “New World Messiah” and “Grand Illusion” and provide some solid power metal work; unfortunately they are also the closest things resembling speed metal on this album. Slower heavy tracks with orchestra sounds like “Pain and Pleasure” and “Leave Me Alone” have some similarities to later Nightwish work, a plus for me but not necessarily for most other core-NR fans.

The final impression that one gets after listening to this album is something that is watered down, it has a lot of the good elements of past work, but it has too much other stuff going on in it. My guess would be that Manneberg, Eriksson and Norberg got bored of simply writing power metal anthems and decided to do some experimenting, resulting in something comparable to Freedom Call’s “The Circle of Life” in many ways. If you were a fan of “Afterlife” and “Shadowland”, this is a good distance away from those releases, to speak nothing for fans of the first 3 albums. I’d recommend picking it up at $9 or less regardless of what your tendencies are, it’s good but it’s not something to pick up at full price.

Underwhelming - 69%

Rael, June 14th, 2007

'The 8th Sin' is not necessarily a bad album, it just doesn't offer anything 'Grand Illusion' didn't...except even more catchy and melodic choruses. That new direction is where Nocturnal Rites seem to be headed, forsaking the Euro power metal riff-driven type thing they're best at. The band are becoming attractive to fans of melodic hard rock/AOR, such is the bigness and sweetness of the melodic content throughout 'The 8th Sin'. Good for them, there's a growing interest in that sort of thing. I wouldn't be surprised to see NR on Frontiers once Century Media eventually dumps them.

The biggest disappointment here is one that's been growing and nagging since 'Afterlife': the under-employment of the ridiculous talents of lead guitarist Nils Norberg. This guy's work on 'Afterlife' and 'Tales Of Mystery & Imagination' showed a guitar god in the making. But his role has diminished in the intervening years, drowned by big squishy productions, huge and bold chorus melodies, and an overall streamlining which cuts out all but the most base ingredients. Bummer.

Problems arise in first track, "Call Out To The World", which is softened by layers of keyboards, psuedo-industrial machine noises underpinning the rhythms, and a too-easy wrote-it-in-our-sleep main melody that recalls newer In Flames or latter-day Sentenced. And so it goes, to one degree or another, throughout the whole album. Right: yawn.

Now, the fan in me who loves Jonny Lindqvist's vocals still loves Lindqvist's vocals. The TNT fan in me who loves huge catchy melodies and grandiose choruses still loves that kind of thing, which is ever-present here. But the fan in me who loves Nils Norberg's leads misses him. Solo sections four measures long are getting really frustrating. There's also a distinct lack of energy, a strangely cozy rhythmic approach that lessens the excitement factor somewhat. And though I usually don't care who sings about what, I do miss Nocturnal Rites' more mystical/medieval lyrical approach. The sensitive, introspective stuff all over the place on 'The 8th Sin' is much better left to...well, yeah, TNT.

Heck, it's not even all that bad. I just can't help but want something a little more ballsy from the band who brought us the 'Afterlife' masterpiece. I can see this growing on me ("Tell Me" is currently doing just that). But the band are now lacking some of the basic elements that made them so likeable in the past. I'm still with them, but one more album even further in this direction, and I'll probably be jumping ship.

Temptation: The 8th Sin - 33%

GuntherTheUndying, June 14th, 2007

There are many famous chronicles in the Christian Bible about life and how one should live it, but the concept of the seven deadly sins remains one of the most famous biblical teachings in modern society. As the Flying Spaghetti Monster most accurately put it, the seven I'd Really Rather You Didn'ts describe what each of these internal hurdles are, and how they can bring an individual down the wrong path. All these sins seem to reflect human characteristics and how each one is actually within one's own mind set, which makes me wonder about all the other personal thoughts that could be considered somewhat negative. In other words, could there be something like an eight sin? And if so, what would it be? I'm no Holy Joe, but I'd let temptation slither its way up to that eighth slot if I could.

For those with a deprived vocabulary, temptation is a deed that seems like it will benefit an individual greatly, but actually has negative consequences in the end, which are unbeknownst to the person at hindsight. Temptation can be applied in several normal circumstances in life, but it is also very common in many musical genres, including metal. Every now and then, a decent metal group will alter their sound to become more popular, but temptation usually gets the best of them when the day ends. In recent times, we've witnessed the fall of many great groups, but one of the most disappointing mainstream attempts has been Nocturnal Rites' swing at popularity with "The 8th Sin." Nocturnal Rites established themselves as one of power metal's top acts throughout a grand decade of excellence, but everything they worked for was simply destroyed by their poor throb for fame on "The 8th Sin."

After hearing the opening minutes of this record, it becomes very clear that Nocturnal Rites have totally transformed their style, attitude, and appearance into a radio-friendly faction. This claim is justified by the repetitive song writing along with a poor selection of redundant riffs, and the lack of heaviness in the music’s soul. Any kind of proper of song structure has vanished, and there’s nothing left but a verse, a chorus, a solo, and a big repetition formula for each tune. And that’s not even mentioning the annoying backing vocals, the production that sounds too clean, the lack of drum fills, and the uber-happy atmosphere that screams, “TURN THAT FROWN UPSIDE DOWN!!!” Temptation has truly taken control over everything Nocturnal Rites has ever known.

I found it impossible to ignore the constant similarities and repetition patterns placed into each song. When listening to the first few tracks, I noticed the choruses appeared somewhat identical to each other, but this texture of repetition continued throughout the whole record. When you get to the choruses, pay attention to the riffs and the drum patterns; you'll find that each tune lacks any kind of diverse chord progression, and has the exact same drum pattern with an identical cymbal coordination design. A few of the tracks even have some electronic influences that peak in small intervals, but the fact remains Nocturnal Rites have gone straight to hell with all this junk. It's actually amazing to compare the change they've made in only a few years, and I mean that in the worst way possible.

"The 8th Sin" is unquestionably bad, but there are some good moments worth mentioning. Jonny Lindqvist steps up his game and out performs the rest of Nocturnal Rites with ease, which really comes as a surprise considering how much substance this record lacks. Lindqvist does everything you could expect him to do, meaning he nails high notes, sounds emotional during the ballad songs, and makes some choruses appear somewhat energetic. I'm also impressed with some of the solos on the first few tracks, but everything isn't worth a second of anyone's time.

Nocturnal Rites' mainstream attempt ends in a very disappointing way, but this isn't a surprise considering previous errors by many metal groups wishing to become modernized. The temptation of becoming a popular band was clearly the driving force behind "The 8th Sin," hence the terrible material within. Unless you enjoy spending your money on trivial items, I suggest you leave this one for the vultures.

Refreshing! - 80%

Agonymph, May 26th, 2007

Reading the reviews written on the new Nocturnal Rites album, I got the impression that Nocturnal Rites had taken a completely different direction from their previous albums. A direction that wasn’t all to well received by people who actually like the band. After hearing it myself, I have to say that all these reactions are a bit exaggerated. ‘The 8th Sin’ is still a typical Nocturnal Rites album, they have just taken their experiments with drum computers and modern riffing slightly further and the overall atmosphere on the album may be just a tad more poppy than on the previous albums. I’m not complaining though, Nocturnal Rites is doing exactly what they’re good at.

As long as the amazing Jonny Lindqvist is still fronting this band, I’m not complaining anyway. This guy’s powerful vocals are still among Metal’s very best. The sound of the band is different from many other Power Metalbands nowadays as well. The rhythm guitars are a bit heavier and a bit more modern, while the overall feel of the songs is a little more traditional than with most Power Metal bands. Nocturnal Rites is making songs rather than speed exercises.

With that in mind, ‘The 8th Sin’ is really not that much different than any other Nocturnal Rites-album with Lindqvist at the helm. Opening track ‘Call Out To The World’ is your typical Nocturnal Rites-opener. Pounding, powerful and euphoric. Really, I’m sure that this chorus can drag me out of a deep depression and put a smile to my face again. It’s just a very good track song-wise as well. It’s constructed effectively and Nils Norberg does some great soloing, as he does on the rest of the album. ‘Call Out To The World’ gets my vote for my favorite song on the album as well. Good stuff!

But there’s plenty more to enjoy after that! A video was made for the track ‘Never Again’ and I can understand that, since it’s a very catchy track (but once again...as is most of the album). Powerful and emotional are the keywords for most of the songs on this album and I think ‘Never Again’ is probably the most obvious example of that.

Experimentation is best displayed in ‘Strong Enough’. The track starts out with a part with a drum computer (well...in fact I think Owe Lingvall recorded the entire album with a digital drumkit), synths and distorted vocals from Jonny Lindqvist. That part almost creates a Club-like atmosphere, but after that, the song turns all Metal, with rhythmical, Nevermore/Prog-like extremely heavy, pounding riffing and of course, the typical Nocturnal Rites sing-along chorus. One of the better songs on the album for sure! Another refreshing track is ‘Pain & Pleasure’, which incorporates the symphonic elements with which they already flirted with in ‘Deliverance’ from the last album in a much better way than before. It gives the song a dangerous atmosphere and made it really one of the most pleasant surprises on the album.

However, there are a few unpleasant things on the album though. There are two power ballad-like songs on the album, ‘Till I Come Alive’ and ‘Not The Only’. Even though the latter has a very good intro, both songs are average at best. Very boring songs that just keep dragging along in the same dull rhythm. That the band actually is able to construct a proper ballad is shown in the track ‘Me’. I don’t think Nocturnal Rites ever did an attempt at a real ballad, but ‘Me’ is beautiful. Just a piano and Jonny’s vocals, later joined by a female singer, that create a beautiful ballad. The song reminds me of Kamelot’s ballads a bit, not only because of the atmosphere and the female singer, but also because Jonny’s vocals are kind of like Roy Khan would sing them, albeit that Lindqvist has a bigger range.

The rest of the album is comprised of variations on the Nocturnal Rites concept. Songs like ‘Not Like You’ and ‘Tell Me’ should appeal to anyone who likes a good melody. ‘The 8th Sin’ is much more consistent than it’s predecessor ‘Grand Illusion’. A song as dramatic as ‘Cuts Like A Knife’ is missing on this album (though ‘Pain & Pleasure’ comes close) and the two “power ballads” here are worse than any track on ‘Grand Illusion’. But a fact is that ‘The 8th Sin’ is a typical Nocturnal Rites album that fans of the band or fans of Metal in general can blindly buy this album and as a result, will be left with a huge smile on their faces

Sad Wings of Destiny - 50%

Observer, May 8th, 2007

Don’t crucify or sue me for the title, I just thought Nocturnal Rites expresses the meaning of those words.

How the mighty fal! I’ve been following Nocturnal Rites since the good Sacred Talisman, the great Afterlife, the superb Shadowland (a manual of how to make great and catchy power metal), the average New World Messiah and the somehow OK Grand Illusion. They were never a band that got much attention but I always had them in my mind thanks to some great tunes, the ones that stick on your head for ages.

Recently, they announced on their site the making of a video of the song “Never Again” from this album. Not so long after, the album got leaked and the promos began to roll. I first watched the video and the first question that popped on my head was: What the hell happened? Is this Nocturnal Rites? Hell it is! But I will be blunt now: what the fuck is this shit, all this random electrified hip-hop, pop, Britney Spears, High School Musical crap? Seriously, I wonder what they were thinking or who told them it was going to be cool to put such ominous things on a song. This is the sin! I won’t go on much with an explanation about how a band barely known has sold out like this because I’m not sure if it was their intention or that they didn’t think it was going to be that bad to change their sound so drastically.

This pop-storm of shitty Pro-Tooled beats (or whatever they used to sample them) infests most of the songs and, personally, ruins them all, like the One rules them all. Without talking in riddles, every time I hear the techno-electro-whatever crap I certainly cringe, frown and feel an urgent desire of calling the vikings and the Lord of the Hellish Abyss but, well, I decided to give them a chance. After all, they are the good ol’ Nocturnal, right?

They are? No more.

Aside from the techno problem, the other matter that comes to surface instantly is the blatantly uninspired riffs and the lack of decent song writing, all focused on feelings. What adds insult to the injury is that they added a horrible ballad (Me) with just a piano at the background playing a quite repetitive tune while you have the obvious chick appearing from nowhere and joining in the nauseous cacophony labeled as “ballad” or “emotional song”. The vocalist should stay screaming and singing at a fast pace.

Another thing to point out that should’ve come along with the songwriting is the awful song titling. Three times “Me”, two times “Not”, again we have a “Fools” title ala “Fools Never Die” from Grand Illusion… Extremely simplistic. Of course I don’t ask for a 2 paragraphs song title but one expects something a bit more elaborated and less popish sounding. It could be the track list of the regular idol singer’s album.

Into the music, what hurts me more is that songs like “Call Out to the World” or the aforementioned “Never Again” are actually pretty good. In fact, “Call Out to the World” seems like something they forgot to put in Shadowland and truly deceived me because, with such an opener, you could’ve thought this was Shadowland 2.

"Never Again" is damn catchy but the pop crap ruins it, as well as the rest of the songs that feature these sonic abominations.

The 8th Sin is certainly a sin to metal but somehow manages to keep a thin metal feeling. However, the keyboards take control way too often, the solos lack the passion one expects from them and the riffs are simplistic and uninspired, aside from a few exceptions.

The songs also have an overall “sad” feeling on them, there is always the sensation of a tragedy (yeah, the overall effect of the album on the listener…), unlike their previous stuff where everything was happy true-la-la land of power metal without any issues.

In fact, they still manage to keep their typical catchiness, but this time it’s a negative effect as what I keep remembering is the bad and scary (pop beats for all the divinities' sake).

This is seriously an irregular and stepped down version of Grand Illusion, a sad experiment with the followers of the band and a proof that, from now on, we will have to pick their albums with pliers to avoid getting nasty surprises. However, I hope they will manage to pull off something interesting for the next time, though no Nocturnal Raps or Emotional Rites, please.

It has a few highlights so it’s not a total crap but also not good. It leaves me divided and the 50% is also a representation of this.

Disappointing.

Nice with new elements - 96%

CrystalNight, May 2nd, 2007

Nocturnal Rites has been one of Sweden's most popular metal acts for a few years now. Their fan-base has grown with every release they've had and with the new album "The 8th Sin" I doubt that it will stop growing.

"The 8th Sin" continues where the previous album "Grand Illusion" left off. This album has pretty much the same sound as the proceder but it contains some new elements as well. For example Nocturnal Rites has chosen to use so called "techno-beats" on some of their songs. OK, I know what you're thinking:
"What has "techno-beats" to do with metal?"
Well, atleast that's what I thought. And, for me, this album proved that it can be pretty great! Vocalist Jonny Lindqvist has one of his genres best voices and uses it really well on this album. The guitar riffs isn't the best though. Sounding quite much alike all over the album and not that advanced. I was having higher hopes on this part. The drums are basically following the guitar riffs all the way through the album and personally I like this kind of drumming. But Owe (the drummer) could have gained a few points if he had some more variation in his drumming. And that could also have lifted the songs even higher.

The album's lyrics are basically about emotions between humans. I, myself, like this kind of lyrics way more than the "fairytale" kind of thing and the "grr, we hate the government"-lyrics.

Nocturnal Rites have chosen their opener well. "Call Out To The World" is fast, powerful, catchy, well, it's great. The guitars sound great and the drums are quite cool. The first three songs are great, but on nr.4 things really get started. "Tell Me" is probably the best one on the album. Beginning with some keyboards, clean guitars and a radio-like voice in the background but explodes into a majestic mid-tempo rocker. The chorus is awesome, specially the final tunes that Jonny scream. Loving it!

On track number 7 will we find another piece of gold: "Till I Come Alive". The first verse in this song is based on techno-beats. Personally i love it, even though I thought that techno-beat wouldn't work with metal.This song is emotional, it's strong and powerful! It just makes me shiver every time I hear it. Lovely! Following up is a rather weird song. "Strong Enough" has one of the bands most different sounding intros, but I still like it. The bridge is different to! And these things is what I like! That it's different from their earlier stuff. The guitar riff could easily have been made by Roland Grapow from Masterplan.

A song that many Nocturnal Rites fans might find difficoult to accept is the bands first ballad since Jonny joined the band. People might think it's a bit to soft and mainstream or whatever. Personally: I love it. I never thought that Jonny could sing ballads that good, but hey, was I proved wrong? This is one of the most emotionally powerful songs I've heard.

To sum up: this is perhaps the best album of the year so far. If you like the previous two albums this one's gotta be worth buying. Jonny's voice fits in perfectly with the guitars as usuall. The only negative thing is that some songs sound a bit alike... but I don't mind it. They're all good.

"The 8th Sin" is melodic metal at it's best.

This CD is "Strong Enough" - 82%

stormruller, April 27th, 2007

I've been a fan of Nocturnal Rites since their first CD with vocalist Jonny Lindqvist, the amazing "Afterlife", which by far is their best 'till now. Of course their 3 other CD's released are great too but "Afterlife" is at the top and still in the top after the release of "The 8th Sin".

This new CD is great too, songs very powerful with the aggressive voice of Jonny, and he delivers that on the first two songs, "Call Of The World" and "Never Again", what surprised me the most in this CD is the song "Not The Only" which in the beginning of this song he sound a lot like Jorn Lande.

"The 8th Sin" brings some keyboards to the NR's style as in "Not Like You" and "Leave Me Alone", this last one with a really catch chorus and an outstanding performance by Jonny once again.

Not only keyboards are new in their new CD, as some pop/techno sounds can be heard in the next two songs "'Till I Come Alive" which is below average comparing to the other songs and the best song of the CD, "Strong Enough" which I don't really care of the 20 pop/techno seconds in the song as the metal is played very well by the band and the unbelievable and catchy chorus.

I wanted the band to play more ballad songs as Jonny delivers it great in the acoustic version of "In A Time Of Blood And Fire" but in this new song "Me" it is awful to listen to it. The song "Pain And Pleasure" finishes the CD just as the CD started... simply amazing!!

Never thought they would stoop this low - 35%

Nightrunner, April 26th, 2007

Nocturnal Rites is, to many, a underrated power metal band, and everytime I see such statements I wonder for myself, are these people really right or ? If that had been said in 2002 after the release of “Shadowland” I would have said yes immediately, but NR has released two mediocre and weaker albums since then, and now that “The 8 th Sin” is here and that i’ve listened to it many times, I would absolutely say no. They are not good anymore, and I definitely don’t agree that they’re underrated anymore, I’d rather say that they are overrated, because this my friends, is probably the worst shit that Nocturnal Rites has ever done. My beliefs for this band has really gone to the bottom after this album.

So why is this album NR’s-weakest ? Of course it’s the songs they have written. What has happened is that they have taken a further step forward in usage of keyboards and flower power-choruses, and if it that wouldn’t be enough they’ve also used many shitty modern kinda beats that can be heard in pop and hip hop etc. nowadays. In other words, I think NR has gone far too mainstream and modern. A few songs (like “Never Again”, “Till I Come Alive” and “Strong Enough”) starts like all these mainstream songs that’s played everywhere. On TV, Radio, commercials..anything, and I say: “What is it doing in metal ??”. I can’t answer that though, maybe the guys in the band can. “Never Again” has great verses, and it shows that NR is best without keyboards. Which is something many songs have too much of – usage of keyboards. All songs have tons of keyboards in them, mostly in “Not The Only”, “Leave Me Alone” (Sonata Arctica-copy), “Pain And Pleasure”. And we also have a sucky ballad in “Me”, which really shows why we haven’t got a NR-ballad in a very long time. Cheesy to the max and just really bad is what it is, and Jonny’s voice fits much better with heavier songs. However, we have one songs that’s pretty good on here, the opener “Call Out To The World”. Probably the heaviest song of the album, but sadly it also has this cheesy and poppy chorus, like all other songs on the album, and it just doesn’t work – and then i’m there again saying “well yeah, this band used to make great choruses”, but that potential seems lost and the song only makes it to “pretty good”. There’s even one song included here that I wouldn’t even label as metal, which is “Tell Me”. This song is absolutely as gruesome as “Me” and is together with that one the two worst songs on the album. And then you can maybe how imagine how damn bad they are.....

So to be honest, I never thought these guys “would stoop this low” (to put it in NR-language), and it’s sad to see what they’ve developed into. Things that started so great when Jonny came into the band on vocals, has now became even weaker than their albums before “Afterlife”. When talking about quality, this CD is absolutely comparable with some of the worst power metal bands out there like Dragonforce, Sonata Arctica, Freedom Call etc. and the fact that this album is almost happier than Freedom Call is terrifying. Nocturnal Rites really must do something better with next album, and get a tougher sound. They can’t have these sissy keyboards taking over the guitars, modern sound effects and all these poppy choruses, at least I just can’t stand it, and sometimes you wonder “what were they thinking ?”. With all this said, I think “The 8 th Sin” is far too commercial and is truly a sin, believe me. Hopefully they’ll get harder and rawer to next time, and hopefully you’ll skip this album and concentrate on far better albums that has been released this year, preferably the new MORGANA LEFAY-album.