Wielding the Scythe

A hundred bucks says "Wielding the Scythe" was influenced by the Symphony of the Night soundtrack. Nightshade's lone album comes off as a tribute to the aforementioned video game's incredible score almost more than the musical brethren with whom they shared similarities. A melodic death/black metal band in league with early Children of Bodom et al., Nightshade also implemented blackened hues à la Dissection and used keyboards to evoke an aura of darting through macabre dangers under a full moon. The keys are the sole component seemingly paying homage to the Symphony of the Night's ambiance, but the parallels are striking. The reaper on the cover looks suspiciously like a Castlevania regular, too.

The Symphony of the Night infatuation isn't going to mean squat if you've never played it. First, big mistake on your end—you are fucking up. Second, its score is built upon adventurous atmosphere that sounds ideal for quests through the night, and that is basically the role of the keyboards here. Are auxiliary keyboards really this important? In some cases, definitely. How "Wielding the Scythe" applies these keys to drive the semblance is hard to describe other than comparing them to what sounds like its inspiration, but they are a fantastic component that keeps the music balanced. The keyboard work is not up in the listener's grill and knocking all their stuff over like some of the more obnoxious Children of Bodom albums. Instead, they are stellar factors to driving the atmosphere and coloring the mix—powerful yet poignant.

I'm likely drumming up the importance of the keys a little much. Like I said, they are supplemental features. The guitar work draws a line to older Children of Bodom records that were alight with hyper riffs and frenetic paces; that's mostly the story here. Big, swaying guitar melodies and a bountiful batch of multiple melodic death/black metal riffs are provided per song in a variety of paces and situations. "Sanctum" takes on a gothic, more ethereal approach, and I think it makes the case to be the shabbiest track here, despite not qualifying as shabby overall. "Moonlight in the Chaos Stone" exemplifies every endearing quality: the profound guitar melodies, the sharp melodic death riffing, and the untouchable sense of atmosphere.

There are also parts echoing influence of melodic black metal groups, namely Dissection. "Natthymn" explodes partway through with a tremolo buzz much like Dissection and their counterparts, and keen melodies reminiscent of "Storm of the Light's Bane" and "The Somberlain" are easy to pluck. While the riffs and such are satisfactory, the keyboards push the quality from acceptable to noteworthy. Nightshade didn't reinvent the wheel, because the wheel didn't need reinventing, but they did make a few cosmetic differences that worked to their benefit. Shame this is their only album; I would probably ranks this over the older Bodom albums, which were likely a major source of influence. And Symphony of the Night, of course. Maybe.