Nightfell : "Darkness Evermore"

 The bar is raised pretty high for this one as their debut album"the Living Ever Mourn" really killed it. They get things started on more of a doomy note which is fine with me. The same woefully melodic throb still flows through the veins of this beast. The guitars are masterfully layered and production wise this album sounds even better than their first. the song speeds up in a way other bands should take note as it is so organic and fluid you almost don't notice. It gets to close to a death metal churn and stays melodic even with the mid range rasp of the vocals calling out in the thick of things. And then other guitar melodies gets woven into it. The song writing has stepped up to the challenge. I would otherwise balk at opening the album with a ten minute song , but they know how to make every second count.

One of the album's more straight forward songs follows as the band goes into an more upbeat chug on "Cleansing" which  they drop back down at the mid way point into some creepy atmosphere. The guitar continued to be well layered. This song is a very melodic take on blackened death metal as the band continues to trample over genre lines with this album and just makes metal that encompasses every dark corner. They churn out some wonderfully dark death metal that still propelled by melodic sensibilites on "Rebirth". This is not just another band ripping off Entombed or Incantation, but a fresher take on death metal with the blackened elements not coming off contrived. They do give you a breather at the midway point again, employing strings and clean guitar tones before hammering the nails into a doomier passage that swells back into the barrage.

The more deliberatly paced "Collapsed" takes an unexpected break down that builds the song in a sonic swell, underneath which the drums drive into a more death metal direction. The song gallops into the darkened landscape with classic metal bravado. They once again delivered the goods, I would say this go round there is less doom and more death metal at the albums core. This is done in the most tasteful manner and would still appeal to fans of doom who like hearty doses of death metal mixed in. I'll give this one a 9.5, based off my initial listen and see how it grows on me. This comes out Sept. 11th on 20 Buck Spin.