New World Messiah

Now, this is how you do modern, new school heavy-power metal. The guitars are down-tuned but not flabby, the drumming is thunderous, and intricate, the production is clean, full, balanced, but not too over-neat. The guitar solos are flashy and intense. The lyrics are cynical and properly metal, but don't take them selves incredibly seriously. Not pretentious or try-hard. The guitar tone has weight, the riffs are solid throughout.

A few things that really pull this album out of the cesspool of it's kindred: Jonny Linqvist's exceptional, expressive, soaring vocals. At least for this band's first 6 albums, this man is at the very top of the field among all power metal singers. Next is guitars, and how they're used. In Awakening there is a transition from a very old school, almost upbeat power metal guitar solo, into some bizzaro shred guitarist type solo, back into another power metal lead, and it works so well, it really bucks your expectations. In the otherwise thoroughly and categorically power metal Avalon, you get a great bluesy solo, (backed by some phenomenal drumming). Which brings me to one of the most overlooked things, is the phenomenal drumming. Owe Lingvall is his name, and drumming is his game. In fact, I've always thought the drumming for this band was well above average. Tight, elaborate but not showy. His drumming adds a lot of flavor, and never seems without intention. His drumming legitimately adds to the songs, rather than just being there for the sake of a beat.

The songs have a good deal of variety within the parameters it sets for itself, Awakening is chug-heavy and modern, Avalon is old school power metal to the core, One Nation and Nightmare have a bit more of a speed-metal flavor, a la Afterlife.

Now, this album does fall short of the classic Tales of Mystery and Imagination and venerable Shadowland, but there are some damn memorable choruses here. End of Days, Avalon, and the title of track are real earworms. The songs have a very well thought-out flow, the bridges are always interesting and expertly break up the song and the band plays on expectations very well.

The real flaw on this album is the unfortunate The Flame Will Never Die, using the two words that this band loves most in their song titles. This slow, sappy, accessible sound, is the sound that the band would soon hereafter embrace and begin their enormous skid. It's remarkable that this album sees the band standing at the threshold passing from greatness to garbage. The first 6 albums by this band are all worth listening to, as a power metal fan.

In conclusion, just a damn good album of modern heavy metal. It's fun and heavy with some cool ideas, and extremely solid song writing.

If you’re looking for a great power metal album, look no further. Nocturnal Rites have polished up their sound and honed it to a fine edge as “New World Messiah” easily stands up to the best work Blind Guardian have accomplished.

Many have indicted the group for taking a more refined approach to their music, but this simply adds to the overall impact that these songs have. As dynamics are of critical importance in this style of music, the polished sound lends further weight to the heavier parts and does much to bring out the superior vocal abilities of Jonny Lindkvist.

Not only is Lindkvist a great singer in terms of range and melody, he puts a great amount of power into his vocals that many of his contemporaries lack. Tracks like “Awakening” and “Against The World” hit the listener a s a full frontal metal assault, filled with strength and melody. The Middle Eastern flavored “Egyptica” is a mid-tempoed affair that results in some classic vibes reminiscent of classic Dio, with an updated twist.

On “End Of Days” you will hear some intense guitar melodies supported by an excellent display of talent courtesy of Owe Lingvall, who is just all over the place on this track. The bell on his ride cymbal was miked really well, it comes through, well, as clear as a bell. His ride work is really impressive; he really beats that thing like crazy! The guitar team of Nils Norberg and Fredrik Mannberg play exceptionally well together.

Their combined performance is tight, focused and riveting over the course of the record, particularly on the title track and the driving “One Nation”, where Norberg pulls off some cool sounding guitar synth effects. All in all, “New World Messiah” is a power metal masterpiece. This record in retrospect may go down as the best of Nocturnal Rites’ career.

Filled with hard-hitting anthems and moody, brooding songcrafting, “New World Messiah” has everything that fans have come to expect from Nocturnal Rites and more. A crucial release!

After a rather sizable shift back towards the original Power Metal sound that defined NR’s early years in “Shadowland”, and an unfortunate line-up shift that would spell the end of Mattias Bernhardsson’s tenure on the keys, the 5 remaining veterans of the Swedish Metal outfit hit the studio to record their 6th full length album. After covering a good amount of ground between 2 genres of metal, it was obviously difficult to keep from repeating themselves, and if there is any flaw to this release it might be that they tried a tiny bit too hard on a few songs.

To fill the void left by Bernhardsson, NR tapped session keyboardist Henrik Kjellberg to keep the atmospheric element alive, and his efforts are highly commendable, though they don’t quite fully replace what has been lost. Highlight moments for the keys include a quiet interlude at the beginning of the title track, an impressive eastern sounding intro to “Egyptica” and some eerie sound effects placed at varying intervals through out the albums other songs.

The overall guitar production on here is rather different from previous efforts. Although Norberg and Mannberg are still using the down-tuned seven string guitars, the actual guitar sound is a bit reminiscent of the overdrive tone found on “In a Time of Blood and Fire”. The riffs are highly varied, ranging from the catchy melodic lead riffs found on “Against the World”, “Egyptica” and “Nightmare” to the heavy pounding rhythm riffs of “Awakening”, “The Flame will never Die” and “Break Away”. Norberg’s leads are highly catchy on every song, ranging from a quasi-blues driven set of melodic devices to a rather agitated cluster of notes that at times almost sound like a swarm of angry bees. If I had to pick a favorite solo on this album, it would definitely be the one to “One Nation”, as it is by far the most complex and emotionally driven.

The song structure at work from track to track is where this album starts to get a little bit mixed, as a concerted effort was made to vary the songs on here to a fault. Although I greatly enjoyed every song on here, and despite there not being a song on here that breaks the 6 minute mark, some of them have so many changes in them that they may lose some of their target audience. The title track, “Awakening” and “The Flame will never Die” all have some rather interesting parts that are not brought back due primarily to time constraints, giving this album a quasi-progressive structure. While this is not a problem for most Prog. and Speed/Thrash Metal bands, the traditional power metal fan may not fully like not having too many sections that disappear into the mix.

There are two highlights on this album that deserve individual attention. “Against the World” is probably one of the most powerful and catchy songs that NR has ever recorded, and challenges the dominant status of other tracks such as “Invincible” off of Shadowland and “The Sign” off of Afterlife. The main guitar theme is unforgettable, as is Jonny Lindkvist vocal performance. “One Nation” is an excellent collection of guitar riffs, not to mention one of the best drum performances I’ve heard out of Owe Lingvall to date.

Unfortunately this album has suffered some rather harsh criticism, much of it doesn’t hold up, due to contradictions with what I heard in my 20 time listening session on this album. There is absolutely no filler on this album, the weakness on this album is actually the complete opposite, the songs are tailored to be so distinct from each other that at times I think I’m listening to a band playing in 3 different styles. Words like generic or uninspired just don’t fit in description of songs such as “End of Days”, “Nightmare”, or “Avalon”. As a guitar player and a song writer, I know that a good deal of work goes into writing a song, and you don’t get what you hear on this album by going it half-assed.

In conclusion, this is essential consumption for fans of more aggressive and riff driven power metal. There are keyboards on here, but they do not clash with the heaviness of the other instruments in any way. Fans of older NR albums before Zachrisson left the band will probably find a lot to like on this album, as will fans of Shadowland. I listened to this one on the way home from work to day and I can say with complete confidence that after 20 listens this album has not lost it’s punch. Sit back, relax, and bang your head to some great metal.

I can't, for the life of me, see why so many people think this a terrible album. It has everything Nocturnal Rites has become known for; excellent vocals, awesome guitar riffs, catchy choruses, and a heavier-than-most-power-metal-bands sound. This album, for me was definitely a grower, as was just about every Nocturnal Rites (except for Shadowland). Although this album may not be as heavy or crunchy as Shadowland, it is still an excellent addition to the Nocturnal Rites catalogue.

I feel this album owes more to the vocals than previous albums. They seem to be the center point of the music, instead of the guitars, as in previous albums. The guitar crunch is still there, but it the riffs, for the most part, are more drawn out and epic, I guess is the term. The songs, generally are slower than Shadowland, but these aren't exactly ballads! These slower songs pack an amazing punch, and are still very heavy. The guitar riffs and drums keep an excellent rhythm (almost Iced Earth-esque in parts). This is not to say that the band doesn't rock out on this album. Tracks like "Awakening" and "One Nation" see the band going back to speed metal in a sense. Overall an excellent mix of the styles Nocturnal Rites has been known for.

This album definitely covers all of the bases. The production is excellent, the guitars a little lower in the mix than usual, but it works to highlight the excellent vocals. The playing on this album is superb! Excellent guitar riffs, and as always the drumming is well above par! The drums in Nocturnal Rites have always been a highlight for me, as it is definitely not standard power metal playing. The guitar solos this time around are rather short, but still excellent: these guys have some really cool ideas. Keyboards are also pretty prevalent in this album, adding a more majestic feel.

The first time I listened to this album I wasn't sure if I liked it or not. After repeated listens I found the album's catchiness mixed with heaviness won me over. This CD has been a regular in my rotation since its release. If you listen to this album, give it a few tries before you throw it off the map. Each Nocturnal Rites has differed from the previous. Afterlife to Shadowland there was a pretty remarkable change, and now change is prevalent again. A less guitar oriented album is the order of the day.

The album is recommended to power metal fans, traditional metal fans, and even some prog fans, as the playing is excellent, but not too showy. I think this album deserves more credit than it gets. Check it out, especially if you like Nocturnal Rites, and won't check it out because of poor reviews. Well done!

Tracks to check out: "New World Messiah" "Awakening" & "One Nation"

Nocturnal Rites - New World Messiah is one of my recent purchases, and I thought I'd review it, since I've seen no mention of it here. I can't say whether it's one of the best releases in 2004, since the only 2004 albums I have are this one and Iced Earth - The Glorious Burden. But NWM, the newest Nocturnal Rites, is surely a great album.

For those who don't know them, Nocturnal Rites play non-progressive melodic power metal. Similar to bands like Iron Savior and Masterplan, but slower and heavier. I only have two of their albums, this and the predecessor Shadowland, plus a few MP3s, but I love them both. I will be comparing NWM to Shadowland a lot in the following.

NR have always been a very melodic band, and NWM demonstrates this. Great, singalongable choruses and verses all the way through. The riffing and the drums are also very solid, but the focus is on the vocal lines.

NWM is overall faster than Shadowland, and the production is different, but otherwise the style is the the same. Highlights of the album are Avalon, One Nation and Nightmare, even though the chorus on Avalon is overtly ripped off from Shadowland. Weakest songs are Awakening (because of a sorta bad chorus) and the power ballad The Flame will never die.

Lyrics are of medium quality, but highly cheesy on a few songs (specifically Against the World, Break Away and End of Days). They seem to be more "realistic" and less fantasy-based than on Shadowland, but I'm not sure.

Keyboardist Mattias left Nocturnal Rites between Shadowland and NWM, but ironically, NWM is a quite symphonic album, whereas the keyboards were only barely audible on Shadowland.

Now for some problems with the album. First of all: The guitar solos suck. Not a single one of them is interesting, they are basically just boring pauses between the verses. Shadowland has the same problem. So if guitar solos are very important to you, you may not like Nocturnal Rites. For me, solos are not important, mere a potentially interesting addition to the songs, so it's only a minor problem for me.

The production is also somewhat bad. The guitars are too thin, which makes the album sound unheavy at times, especially the palm muted speed picking parts. The backing vocals are also badly produced. Shadowland had far better production and a much heavier sound. Finally, the length is an unimpressive 47 minutes.

All in all somewhat weaker than Shadowland, but still definitely a great album. I give New World Messiah a rating of 80%. (Shadowland is probably an 85%, for comparison.)

The songs:
1. New World Messiah (4:08) - 9/10
2. Against the world (4:18) - 8/10
3. Avalon (4:19) - 9/10
4. Awakening (5:28) - 7/10
5. Egyptica (5:52) - 9/10
6. Break away (4:34) - 8/10
7. End of days (4:47) - 7/10
8. The flame will never die (4:20) - 7/10
9. One nation (4:29) - 9/10
10. Nightmare (4:37) - 9/10

I had somewhat high expectations for this album, after thoroughly enjoying Afterlife and Shadowland. I was let down, but not really by that much.

There's quite a bit more keyboard use on this album, making me think of Stratovarius at times. I despise Stratovarius, so this is a really really bad thing. That, combined with the overdubbing on some of the choruses makes this album fall short of truly standing head and shoulders above the rest of the power metal pack, as this band has done before. Nocturnal Rites struck me more as a speed/thrash type of power metal band, so I think that maybe they threw in those elements to appeal more to the standard power metal crowd, but it managed to alienate at least two of the band's fans. If I wanted keyboards and crappy chorus', I'd listen to Twilightning or Stratovarius or any of those interchangable bands who's names I can't remember because I can't tell who's who.

Really, my main complaint is that the album just isn't up to the standard set by the truly impressive Shadowland. The songs just aren't as memorable, and that's one of the things Nocturnal Rites have going for them: Catchy riffs that stay in your head. The songs are still catchy, don't get me wrong... just don't expect another Invincible on this album.

I'll go ahead and add this album to my collection as it is, despite my negativity, much much better than the majority of the garbage being released these days... but I hope the band go back to doing their own thing and not trying to cater to the masses.