Review: Nocturnal Rites

Nocturnal Rites
“Shadowland”
(Century Media)

I imagine the streets of Sweden must be filled with nothing but metal musicians wandering in roving packs, seeking out practice halls and recording studios.  Cafes and diners overflow with tattooed long-haired men guzzling black coffee and slurping cold runny eggs off their plates as they desperately write out song tablature on napkins that cause the ink to bleed and form drippy death metal lettering that’ll later finds its way into their band’s font.  The members of Nocturnal Force account for six of said such Swedish individuals.  They play melodic metal with high-pitched male vocals that I thought were female until noting that “Jonny” isn’t all that common a name for women, although it’s not unheard of. Also of note, there are two guys in the band named “Nils” which I find odd since I don’t know anyone named “Nils.”  The closest I can come to is David Hyde Pearce’s character’s name on Frasier, “Niles,” but he’s a fictional character (Niles, not Dave Pearce) and further, I don’t know him.  Century Media Records says this album “will satisfy everyone’s need for quality, classic metal.”  Do you dare take the Century Media challenge?  I know I sure am satisfied, but that has more to do with typing with one hand than Nocturnal Rites.