Metal Reviews

I will admit, I liked Afterlife, but oddly enough that' the only album Johnny sings on where the vocal melodies still kind of sound like Anders Zackrisson's. I was a little disappointed about the downtuning, but at least the song writing on Afterlife was still good. Once they hit it big they started churning out mid paced generic crap

IMO, Nocturnal Rites have have gotten better from Afterlife. That album, New World Messiah, Grand Illusion and now the 8th Sin have been their best albums. I never could get into their pre-Afterlife albums, they just didnt have enough substance, plus i never liked the vocalist.

I just listened to the 8th Sin last night and i thought it was pretty good. Basically the same as Grand Illusion. I would agree though, that all their songs follow the same structure (average 4 minutes in length, catchy choruses, etc), but there are a shitload of bands which do the exact same thing. Plus i think the way NR play now, has made them more well known.

I must admit, though, that the final two tracks on The 8th Sin are total rubbish and it is a disappointing way to end the album, after a terrific start where the first 4 out of 5 tracks were total killers.

If i had reviewed it on metal cd ratings, i would have given it a 3/5....maybe a 3.5/5

It has nothing to do with being true. I just like the style better. Its no mystery that I'm a fan of old school heavy metal. Old NR by definition is old school. I like it better than the downtuned overly produced mid paced stuff they do now. I think it was more interesting.