Description

As infectious as ever after a decade long career, this five-piece outfit deliver ten tracks of some of the most passionately catchy melodic metal to date with ‘Grand Illusions’. The Fredrik Mannberg / Nils Norberg guitar interplay is viscerally captivating, especially on cuts like ‘Still Alive’ and ‘Cuts Like A Knife’. That said, it is pretty damn tough to select just a couple examples of where this musical interplay is more prominent than another. ‘Fools Never Die’ and ‘Never Trust’, tracks one and two on the disc respectively, share that same description. So never mind my citing the ‘especially’, ‘specifically’ and ‘particularly’ when it comes to NR's viscous rhythms on ‘Grand Illusions’. Sounding at times like a single vocalist conceptualization of Demons And Wizards, Nocturnal Rites concentrates their diverse momentum and harmonious melodies into a laser-like instrument on this effort. Notable talents on loan utilized by NR on this album include such names as Kristoffer Olivius from Naglfar, Jens Johansson of Stratovarius, and HammerFall's Stefan Elmgren, complete with Axel Hermann (In Flames / Dream Evil) supplying the cover art on this powerful opus. How can you really go wrong? ‘Grand Illusion’ is in no way a figment of your imagination, Nocturnal Rites has given you the real deal. With two bonus tracks Track listing: 1. Fools Never Die 2. Never Trust 3. Still Alive 4. Something Undefined 5. Our Wasted Days 6. Cuts Like A Knife 7. End Of Our Rope 8. Never Ending 9. One By One 10. Deliverance