NIGHTMARE – Insurrection

From once being just a small opener for Def Leppard to becoming a strong Heavy/Power Metal monster from the streets of Grenoble, France, Nightmare celebrates its 30^th birthday this year. However, their major breakthrough rather occurred after the band’s comeback release ten years ago with their EP Astral Deliverance. Their comeback paved the road to a new Power Metal monstrosity which has made the band into one of France’s greatest Heavy/Power Metal champions ever. Earlier albums such as Cosmovision and Silent Room made way into brutalized Power Metal outbursts as The Dominion Gate , Genetic Disorder and now the coming of Insurrection, which keeps the undying flame burning.

Insurrection is the new title by Nightmare under the strong German label, AFM Records. Under AFM’s guide and with tons of experience of the band members, Nightmare created yet another successful outcome, a new creation most furious and fierce in comparison to previous releases. The music, which is displayed here, shows where the true roots of Melodic Death Metal lay and how close that sub-genre is related to Power Metal. Under the same modern sound, which existed on the band’s previous albums, you will be able to find the same melodies and even the same aura you would get from a Gothenburg style album. If you have not thought about it before, you can check out more Modern Heavy/Power Metal acts and you would hear the similarities.

As heard on other numerous Heavy/Power Metal albums of this age, Nightmare tends to get growly at times, not so much as acts like Mercenary, yet it comes under the same pattern. The truly amazing fact about this untold mix is that the music is richer with tons of melodies and strong Traditional and Modern depth like chunky riffs, a’la Arch Enemy and Iced Earth, while using vocals that are extremely interesting and captivating for every listener of both worlds.

Nightmare keeps up the good work by issuing this combination with great ability on writing great songs, strong modern tunes to what could have been recognized as 80s classics and some of them even better than hits from earlier Nightmare albums as Power Of The Universe and Waiting For The Twilight. A certain point to be made; as the years pass on, Nightmare’s material has to and should receive a lot of attention since they are presenting a high rated music that is a mere quality that was directly derived from their ability to use the modern sound production as a means to demonstrate their skills in this type of sub-genre mix as Heavy and Power Metal.

As for highlights, they can be divided into two primary sections. The rather old Power Metal style tracks and the more modernized melodic Power Metal tunes. “Insurrection” , “Legions Of The Rising Sun” , “Three Mile Island” and “Angel Of Glass” are a part of the old group. The modern group consists of the grasping “Eternal Winter” , the fierce “Target For Revenge” , “The Gospel Of Judas” and “Cosa Nostra”. Other tracks just flow around between them and are worth checking.