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Nocturnal Rites - Lost in Time: The Early Years of Nocturnal Rites
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A New Release Of Their 2 first albums "In A Time Of Blood And Fire" & "Tales Of
Mystery And Imagination", packaged as a multibox set with new and rare bonus
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Review from metal-archives.com
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Nocturnal Rites goes Viking Folk. - 99%
Written by hells_unicorn on September 24th, 2006
This album is pretty much a compilation of the first two full length releases by Swedish Power/Speed Metal outfit Nocturnal Rites. The original versions of these albums are becoming quite rare, particularly the debut because of how old it is and the fact that it did not initially sell very well, although hopefully this release will make all current fans aware that Nocturnal Rites has had a rich history of excellent music going all the way back to 1995.
I was actually able to procure both of these albums in their original form from a second hand vendor in Japan and plan to pen reviews for each of them separate from this review, which is geared mostly towards the extra tracks on this particular release. If you are interested in owning this compilation, it would be recommended that you read the reviews of those albums by both myself and the other reviewers to get a clear picture of what your in for.
The highlight of this album is the amazing demo version of "Lay of Ennui" from the "In a time of Blood and Fire" release. What is amazing is that the vocal work and the instruments all have a great deal of power, to the point of almost challenging the stature of the studio version of it, which by the way, is the best song on the album itself. Anders Zackrisson is often overshadowed by current vocalist Jonny Lindqvist, but his work is at least equal in quality and power, though not quite as rough and throaty sounding.
The "Living for Today" demo is a track that is also extremely strong considering that it is self-produced, and an essential as it never made it onto any of their LPs. Anders is in good form, as is Nils Norberg's lead work. For a demo, this rivals the work of DragonForce's original demo release in terms of overall quality.
The acoustic renditions of the title track and "Winds of Death" off the first album are a change of style, and done masterfully well. Jonny Lindqvist has a very versatile voice, one that isn't on display much as NR's studio work mostly calls for a rough sounding, high end vocal performance. He pulls off a clean sound very well, and functions just as strong in the lower end of his range. The piano rendition of the guitar riffs on "In a Time of Blood and Fire" is quite charming, but I prefer the driving acoustic guitar line of "Winds of Death". You can actually visualize the scene of Vikings on a dragon boat amongst a sea covered with ice bergs, searching for new plunder and adventures.
For fans of current NR work, this music is not as heavy or aggresive as their newer work, and Anders' voice is quite a change of pace. However, it's a good blend of NWOBHM style riffs and Viking storytelling, and it has the same melodic quality that still defines the NR sound. Highly recommended to all fans of Power Metal and Traditional Metal. |
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Release Info
"In A Time Of Blood And Fire"
1. Sword Of Steel
2. Skyline Flame
3. Black Death
4. In A Time Of Blood And Fire
5. Dawnspell
6. Lay Of Ennui
7. Winds Of Death
8. Rest In Peace
9. Dragonisle
Bonus:
10. Lay Of Ennui (demo)
11. In A Time Of Blood And Fire (2004 version)
12. Winds Of Death (2004 version)
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"Tales Of Mystery And Imagination"
1. Ring Of Steel
2. Dark Secret
3. Test Of Time
4. Lost in Time
5. The Vision
6. Warrior's Return
7. Change The World
8. Pentagram
9. Eye Of The Demon
10. End Of The World
11. The Curse
12. Burn In Hell
Bonus:
13. Living For Today (demo)
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1. CD 1: In a Time of Blood and Fire 59:02
2. CD 2: Tales of Mystery and Imagination 56:40
Total playing time 01:55:42
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The Band
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In 1990 guitarist/vocalist Fredrik Mannberg formed a band called Necronomic. But while experiencing several line-up changes and members unwilling to work hard, they later broke up. By the end of 1990, the only two remaining members (Fredrik and drummer Tommy Eriksson) reformed the band, now serving as three piece with newly recruited bassist Nils Eriksson and under the monicker of Nocturnal Rites.
In '91 the band made their first, and still only official, demo recording. A four track release called "The Obscure". It attracted a fair share of independet label interest, but the band decided to wait for something better. While writing material for what came to be a two track promo recording, they found themselves having drifted away from the "mainstream" death metal, towards a more melodic and harmonic oriented sound. This new approch, again, attracted some label attention. Still, nothing the band would be willing to sign. Around this time drummer Tommy Eriksson left the band and was replaced by Ulf Andersson. The band also added a second guitarist, Mikael Söderström.
Through 1993 the band continued writing material and by this time their sound had come to grow into traditional heavy metal, influenced by the likes of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest. The band describes this transison as a normal continuance on what they started on in 1992.
By the fall/end of ’93 they felt they had gathered enough good material for another recording. This recording, however, made the band realized Fredrik’s vocals didn’t quite fit their innovated sound. So they felt they had to recruit a proper, melodic singer. Fredrik’s replacement was found in Anders Zackrisson, a talented and experienced vocalist, formerly of Umea’s Gotham City. Even though 93’s recording didn’t represent the band’s sound with newly recruited Zackrisson, they felt the songs had potential, and it was sent out to various labels. The tape caught swedish label Dark Age’s attention. A deal was worked out and by the end of 1994 the band signed it. Dark Age’s intention was always to license the album to a bigger label with better funds and distribution. The partner was found in Megarock Records and finally Nocturnal Rites debut album "In a Time of Blood and Fire" (1995) was launched upon the world. It was crtically a big sucess but, unfortunately, due to some distribution problems and poor efforts in promoting the album, it never became the sucess it potentially could have been.
While writing for a follow-up, guitarist Mikael Söderström decided to leave the band and was replaced by Nils Norberg. A perfect addition to the band, equally talented as musician and songwriter. In late 1997 the band’s second CD, "Tales of Mystery and Imagination" (1997/199 was released in Japan. But since Megarock didn’t please Dark Age, they shopped around for a better deal in Europe. Ultimately, the band was sold to Century Media and the album was finally released in March 1998. At this point, a whole new era was to begin fo the band.
After touring Europe in support of the "Tales..." album, the band came back with a newfound confidence to write and record its third offering, the critically acclaimed "The Sacred Talisman" (1999). It showed a more mature and able side of the band, and also premiered a new addition to the rythm section, drummer Owe Lingvall. A mere two weeks after the album saw the light of day, the boys joined Nevermore and Lefay for an intense, full scale european tour.
When all touring duties were round up for "The Sacred Talisman", the band and vocalist Anders Zackrisson felt they had grown apart. This led to the departure of Anders but quite quickly a replacement was found in local singer and former bandmate of Owe's, Jonny Lindqvist. A multi talented and experienced vocalist whose voice sounded nothing like Anders'. This, inevitably, made the band broaden their horizons as songwriters and on "Afterlife" (2000) they ended up showing a new and fresh side of Nocturnal Rites. The fans and media welcomed Jonny with open arms and the the band prooved they had come to be an even stronger live force with Jonny as frontman.
After touring Europe with Iron Savior, doing several festivals and one-off shows in Sweden, the band started working on material for what we now know as "Shadowland" (2002). Nocturnal Rites will be playing festivals during the summer/fall and will start touring Europe and possibly the world later on this year. |
Album Line-up
Anders Zackrisson - Vocals
Fredrik Mannberg - Guitar
Nils Norberg - Lead Guitar
Nils Eriksson - Bass
Ulf Andersson - Drums
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