Nite - Darkness Silence Mirror Flame (Double LP)

NITE (CA, USA) - Darkness Silence Mirror Flame (2nd Pressing on Double Purple gatefold vinyl - limited to 125 copies).  The melody on this debut album is stacked to the rafters here, though—the nearly endless barrage of hugely lifting leads and all the guitarly radiance delivered by both Labrakis and Scott Hoffman (High Spirits)—is absolutely Darkness Silence Mirror Flame’s pinnacle highlight.

When combined with the forceful bounce behind the drumming of Patrick Crawford (Serpents of Dawn, Older Sun) and bass-play of Bryan Coons (Older Sun), you’ve got a golden ticket for anyone who’s ever wondered what might happen if a band like Vreid ever ploughed head-on into The Devil’s Blood and became channelled through a forgotten NWOBHM band.

The overall vibe throughout Darkness Silence Mirror Flame absolutely bleeds sinfulness, and vocalist/guitarist) Van Labrakis (of Satan’s Wrath) utilizes the sort of poisonous rasp you’d anticipate crawling straight from a rack at Helvete.

Musically, however, NITE employs an almost obscenely melodic take on the brand of (relatively) recently revised traditional Metal once peddled by In Solitude (2013’s Sister), and when things slow down and get even more gothy—“Lucifer,” for example—the comparisons to Idle Hands (now known as Unto Others) is also just.

The bottom line is this: NITE’s debut is a total banger that puts the bacon on the table, so anyone still interested in having fun, moshing and not giving a flip about whether or not something sounds “trendy” should head to the front of the line.  **originally published on yourlastrites.com**  Creator-Destructor Records