Nightfall

Astron Black and the Thirty Tyrants (Metal Blade)
By Mike Delano

Greece’s Nightfall have been around awhile, and on Astron Black and the Thirty Tyrants, that experience pays off. Sure, the album title sounds like a rejected Harry Potter adventure, but what lies within is expertly polished death metal. The band sounds supremely comfortable on battle-ready chuggers like “Archon Basileus” and “Astronomica/Saturnian Moon,” and finds similar success when they slows things down, like on the dirge-y beginnings of “Proxima Centauri/Dead Bodies” and “The Thirty Tyrants.” Pretty much anything the band tries turns out golden, whether it’s segueing black metal bombast into Maiden licks and piano or sprinkling symphonic accents throughout, creating a full-bodied, rather than melodramatic, sound. Like Unleashed, their confidence is admirable, and they channel it into tight, perfectly-constructed songs rather than indulgent displays of technical prowess or bloated eight-minute epics.
(www.metalblade.com)