Waiting for the Twilight

Yet another killer old school French heavy metal band, alongside ADX, Blasphème, Sortilège, High Power and Voie De Fait, consists of Grenoble's Nightmare, whose twelfth studio album Encrypted, is due out in June - incidentally, on my late, eldest paternal uncle Yves' birthday (he'd approve!). Although most of its extensive discography eludes me, I've long had a soft spot for 1984's eight track riff fest masterclass debut, Waiting For The Twilight...like a dutiful and studious minion. Out of the blue, an overpowering urge to render it justice materialized today, so I'll simply take a few seconds of your time to vaunt its sonorously gripping merits.

Speaking as a starry eyed apprentice shredder still a solar system away from flawless tube coverage, Waiting For The Twilight is a treasure trove of cool, hard-driving, melodic riffs and solos, complimented by highly shaky vocalist whose lack of grace and finesse, as well as tuneless inflections, are precisely what give the eldritch material its slick, cult-status charm which compels to no end. (To wit, I've already listened to it three times this morning!)

Even if I'm making gruellingly slow progress keeping up with classic rock staples over at Songsterr (which should be renewed any day now), a big part of me strives to develop aural recognition skills in order to suss out the riveting riffage on, for starters, opener "Trust A Crowd", with its sharp and ever Jay Priestly axe squeal and fast-track intro solo, alongside front man's nasal, ghostly pontificating, the slack and unburdened kind I'll always shake around to, no matter the season.

Each song is a sure-fire winner; it's no easy feat to choose the best, but the first three duly place the bad dream on the musty map. The pristine title track and salacious ode to womanhood, "Too Late", loosely glide to the top as most accessible, instantly head-bopping numbers. Fleshing out Side A, the Praying Mantis style, intensely NWOBHM sounding "Royal Death" further elevates this European cloud of eternal rock n' roll revelation, whilst on the flip side, there's no shortage of fret board gems either, beginning with slow cooker "Drive Down To Hell", the record's slight nod to the era's thrash movement, if its rapid n' rangy palm muted main riff is any indication.

A less outright "metal" song I also gravitate towards like a wayward satellite is the mildly glam-y and commercial, yet stratospheric "Lord Of The Sky". Final cuts "The Legend" and "Fool On The Scene" (not quite for "stockings") are just as great, making me wish Nightmare's Waiting For The Twilight lasted longer than a spartan half hour. Considering how fortunate we are to have the likes of Metal School and NWOTHM flying the metal fanion, I figured it was my turn to return the favor for a change.

Wow. I don't know if I can praise this album enough! Waiting for the Twilight is the prime example of everything I want in a traditional 80's heavy metal album. It's fun thumpin' and catchy, yet has such a high level of genuine energy and belief in what they're doing, that it never gets repetitive and boring/cheesy. There are many contenders for best metal album of 1984, and I have to put this one on the list.

Christophe Houpert, who only sang on this one album for Nightmare, lacks the theatric voice of some of the bigger names in 80s metal. But that's okay, for two reasons. First, this style lends a perfectly ethereal feel to the supernatural-themed "Lord of the Sky". A different approach, but gets the job done just as well as King Diamond's crazed phantom of the opera. Secondly, having a less-than-dominant singer allows the music to be led by the guitarists Stripolli and de Dominicis - who are at their blazing finest even though this is their debut album! 

Their work here is strongly inspired by, yet never a simple imitation of, the British classics. "Trust a Crowd" shows hints of the iconic opening riff of Judas Priest's "Electric Eye", but sped up and melded into the verse riffs too. They even manage to turn "Too Late", which could have been another yawner about a hooker with a heart of gold, into a masterpiece. It has an epic intro that reminds ofthe winding-down of "Hallowed be Thy Name", with some similarity in the first verse riff too.

Nightmare got off to an amazing start with Waiting for the Twilight. What came next was a very confused sophomore album that saw them try to venture away from their classic metal roots toward a heavy/power hybrid. They weren't ready. I wish they'd taken another stab at this genre first.

There is an allure to be found in the archaic, especially when it comes to the limited participation of France in the early days of heavy metal’s development. All sorts of heroes can be pointed to from Britain, America, Germany, and Sweden that were fast expanding upon the still raw template that had been conjured out of the 1970s exploits of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Judas Priest, Rainbow, and all other associates in the transition away from hard rock toward what became the early '80s explosion. But only a handful of champions were to be found bearing the sword in the name of France, and among them Nightmare found itself at the helm, opening for Def Leppard back when they were still playing music from their NWOBHM debut “On Through The Night” and were still nominally a part of the broader metal paradigm.

Insofar as 1984 goes, the musical exploits to be found on here aren’t terribly innovative, at least not all that much more than Grim Reaper’s acclaimed “See You In Hell”. In fact, between the mild-mannered croon of vocalist Christophe Houpert and the very formulaic musical structure of each individual song, the comparison between said NWOBHM late bloomers and Nightmare is unavoidable. There is definitely a distinction in the latter’s more polished and dense demeanor, which comes with having both a second guitarist and a vocalist that isn’t shy about using reverb-drenched choir overdubs to fill out the arrangement into something beyond the band’s likely live performance capabilities. Furthermore, while Steve Grimmett’s high end tenor was possessed of a moderately gritty edge that adapted itself to the percussive tendency of the style’s crunchy riff approach and pounding rhythm section, Houpert maintains an airy demeanor that contrasts yet complements the hard edged instrument section in a manner not all that similar to what a synthesizer might accomplish for a power metal band.

Ironically, while being put out in the midst of a burgeoning underground thrash metal upsurge in neighboring Germany and to the other side of the Atlantic, there is a time appropriate tendency to this music when considering the commercial success of somewhat similar (albeit lighter sounding) bands in the vein of Dokken and Leatherwolf. It’s a bit more traditionally oriented and leans more closely to the galloping, Iron Maiden sound of the early 80s instrumentally, but when considering the melodic contour and vocal tendencies, it’s fairly safe to assume a commonality with the developing hair metal scene that likely pushed this album into greater prominence than otherwise would have occurred. Still, when considering the hard hitting power chord assault of “Too Late” and “The Legend”, one can also consider that a good chunk of this band’s audience was also rocking out to nastier fair such as Ozzy’s “Bark At The Moon” and Saxon’s “Strong Arm Of The Law”.

The ultimate testament of this band’s importance to French metal would be their ability to resurrect themselves in a completely different era (the late '90s) and bring a piece of this now olden and largely under-represented style to a table that was more heavily dominated by Helloween emulators and Stratovarius loving keyboard fanatics. Granted, while most of the original membership was intact by the time that “Cosmovision” came into being, the radically different gruff style of then drummer Jo Amore (whose beats on here are tight but largely by the numbers) painted a very different picture. But nevertheless, when looking at the now archaic lore of this heavily NWOBHM inspired debut and the modern, nastier cousin that this band came, there is still an element of what is found on here influencing present day practices. While maybe not a monumental splash in the massive ocean of early '80s metal, “Waiting For The Twilight” began a metal institution that maintains a relevance to this day which none should ignore.

“…the noise of the wheels, the crash of the steel will echo in the sky…”

During the earlier days when things were still fairly remote and uncharted, French metal was considered something far from “it”, a commodity few fans really tore through the underground to hear. It wasn’t because it was honestly horrible, and it’s not like there was a logjam of French metal bands wedged onto stages everywhere, so why did people feign deafness when confronted by the sounds of these people? The problem: they were swimming with sharks. Malaysian metal bands never got mocked, nor did Polish ones, or Peruvian. Considering the scene in those countries started and stopped at zero, you’d need a few sticks of dynamite to unearth even the most diminutive handful of bands. The thing is, the few French bands that were around actually tried, but were overpowered by other bands of the time. Already time-honored stalwarts of the scene and the changing of the metal (style) guard would be their greatest opposition, yet they hauled ass out there, instruments in hand, and flung themselves into circulation and the proverbial spotlight. Okay, so things didn’t transpire as monumentally as they’d hoped, but at least they got off the bench.

On the food chain of the country’s fire-questing period, Nightmare tackles a gazelle somewhere between Sortilege and the mostly incognito Trust, then probably trembling Shakin’ Street. Yeah I know, wow, not exactly a smorgasbord of known bands, but compared to groups like Danger Zone and demos from Hellfire, Loudblast, and friggin’ Oxenkiller, Nightmare’s Ebony Records debut sits very near the head of the table.

With their first, the five-piece offer up a set of tunes that can stun the traditional fan that’s not expecting much from an album that’s a tad past the hour for nwobhm-style songwriting. It’s only ’84, but elements of the traditional were turning tumultuous. Bands like Axe Victims, Spartan Warrior, and Tysondog kept the faith burning, unfortunately without legendary appeal, and there was little doubt to those in the know that a metamorphosis was churning in metal’s vat. It’s when hope for the original style seemed small and distant that Waiting for the Twilight came out with trumpets blaring.

Like conscientious observers to the last four or five years, Nightmare write songs as if they sat back in the shadows, memorized the nooks and crannies that lousy songscripting hid in during that time, and guided much of this eight tracker through that teeming and tangled maze with barely a skinned knee. Despite the style’s enlarging deadline, WFTT’s rhythms and structures jump to life as if freshly awakened, still rubbing the morning crud out of its eyes, yet leap out of bed and stride across the room with a knowing, surefooted gait that flows from catchy opener “Trust a Crowd” to the penetrating chorus of “The Legend”. Simply put, we have some valiantly provocative songs here. Brave and spirited hooks grow hair in nearly every track, conditioned by a keen sense of timing and resolve that’s just so alluring, and yet aren’t up to spinning anthemic blood 'n iron yarns in pec-flexing Manowarian style. The music, built primarily on dynamic and unforced fluency, can easily capture the awareness of those who realize this is a little outdated, but are still hearing something worthy of at least another trip around the turntable. Though when the streamers clear, there’s one point of denial in Nightmare’s sound that’s somewhat of a contradiction to the proficiency fueling the band, and that’s the vocals.

With a creamy set of lungs that caress the music with a rolled on, unruffled, and understated Steve Grimmett panache, sane Christophe Houpert happens to be one of those odd bird, one tone, one message crooners that, despite sounding like he just picked up the microphone yesterday, sets a standard where he stands, a place that’s perfectly square within this five-piece’s very traditional relevance. More rarely, this unlikely coalition is an ideal example of the paradox for when a band that’s tighter than a ball of twine and is as gifted as any of the wave ‘o British bands employs a singer who’s light years out of his league, yet through some celestial favor the two entwined can do little wrong. Compliments fly around where they don’t belong, I know, and not everyone ‘gets’ my favoritism toward Houpert’s assertively subdued style, but that’s not my problem.

To showcase this not-so-gruesome twosome of antics, tracks like “Too Late” and “Drive Down to Hell” hit the spotlight running and never stray from focus, enchanted with enough closed-fisted forward roll and drama to warrant an easy rotation of the entire album. Equally intriguing about Nightmare is not just their ability to write dignified, collected, and contagious songs, but their flair for making it look easy, and makes you wonder why a theoretically exceptional band like Warlord could only do it half the time.

Next year’s Power of the Universe dips in somewhat galactic proportions as poor Houpert is handed his walking papers, and with him sails about two-thirds of the reverie this exquisite Ebony opus had gathered, and I’d rather listen to something else.

“..can you hear the bells calling you to hell where you fell because of your sin?”