Nightrage

Sweet Vengeance (Century Media)
by Tim Den

For all the hype surrounding Nightrage, I must say I’m not impressed. Though Sweet Vengeance is a stomach-filling portion of Swedish melodic death, calling it “the first legitimate follow-up to Slaughter of the Soul” is like saying cold-cuts are the best thing next to filet mignon. Who are you kidding? Just cuz Tomas Lindberg is at the mic (who doesn’t he scream for these days?) doesn’t mean the riffs are any more distinguishable than, say, Dissection’s or Dismember’s. All the minor-key notes are hit in the right order, all the solos are shuddering and eloquent, the drumming’s bad-motherfucking-ass (courtesy of The Haunted’s Per M. Jensen)… but c’mon, there is nothing worth verbal masturbation here.

Sweet Vengeance is merely yet another exercise in Swedish melodic death metal; a hold-over between Dark Tranquillity and Soilwork’s albums. And counting melodic vocalist Tom S. Englund as a full-time member is stretching it quite a bit, since he only shows up for about a third of the songs (only singing a couple of lines each time).
(2323 W. El Segundo Blvd. Hawthorne, CA 90250)