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Review: Nocturnal Rites - Phoenix
Nocturnal Rites
www.nocturnalrites.com
Phoenix

Label: AFM Records
Year released: 2017
Duration: 43:43
Tracks: 10
Genre: Power Metal

Rating:
3.5/5


Review online: January 24, 2018
Reviewed by: MetalMike
Readers' Rating
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Rated 3.63/5 (72.5%) (8 Votes)
Review

Sweden's Nocturnal Rites has been kicking around the Power end of the Heavy Metal pool for nearly 20 years though their latest releases have struggled to keep the band above water. Phoenix is album #9 and the name may well be prophetic after the poorly received The 8th Sin which was released a whopping 10 years ago. At first blush I was unimpressed with Nocturnal Rites' dark and angry sound on Phoenix but as I've listened it has grown on me in a foot-tapping, air guitar sort of way. There's nothing all that catchy about any of the choruses and none of the riffs are particularly majestic, but I keep thinking of Symphony X when listening to this. It is not nearly that album's equal, but it possesses a progressive aggressiveness that succeeds by not being just another flowery, keyboard-heavy Power Metal clone. I could do with less of the down tuning as that seems like the easy way to make an album sound dark. Phoenix is not as bad as I was expecting and there are far superior albums that sound similar, but give Nocturnal Rites credit for trying something different.

More about Nocturnal Rites...
Review: Afterlife (reviewed by Michel Renaud)
Review: Grand Illusion (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: New World Messiah (reviewed by Christopher Foley)
Review: Shadowland (reviewed by Christian Renner)
Review: Shadowland (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: Tales Of Mystery And Imagination (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
Review: The 8th Sin (reviewed by Larry Griffin)
Review: The Sacred Talisman (reviewed by Sargon the Terrible)
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