Review of the Album "Descent Into Chaos" by Greek Melodic Death Metal Band Nightrage

The album Sweet Vengeance was my first exposure to Greek/Swedish melodic death metal band Nightrage and their 2005 album called Descent Into Chaos released in 2005 is a very good mix of influences from In Flames to Arch Enemy among others and this is a good omen or sign shall we say.

Even if we can’t understand the vocals of Tomas Lindberg, still this band is able to create music that fits well and flows for the entire duration of the albums.

Starting in the year 2000, Greece was the next country to sort of jump on the melodic death metal train if we can call it that all due to the work and efforts of Marios Iliopolous. Even with the lyrical themes of the song Silent Solitude that asks the question where the world we dreamed of, life is always gets better. Greece is a country that has just over 11 million people and they are growing in terms of heavy metal. In the 1980’s the band Rotting Christ would really become the first major Greek heavy metal band and I would put Nightrage as the second well-known Greek metal band.

This album starts with the song “Being Nothing” and this one reminds me of the bands Hatesphere and In Flames. This one is really hard hitting and a sort of death metal tune that leaves us in awe. Phantasma is the second song and this one is influenced by Angela Gossow era Arch Enemy. It makes you really want to clap your hands in excitement because Greece has the potential to expand and grow as a heavy metal nation. Will Greece become a powerhouse for heavy metal? Certainly the song Poems with its melodic leads is one example of a song that has the potential to make at least this album a powerhouse collection of songs. Descent Into Chaos would also be the last album for Tomas Lindberg as a member of Nightrage. The title track of this album asks the question what we have learned through the pain of life. Life is certainly a learning experience for all us but I wouldn’t say that it should be painful.

For their complex lyrics looking at some of life’s most important issues, Nightrage have proven to me to be very worthy of praise and recognition as one of the top melodic death metal bands in the world.

The great brief acoustic section in the song called "Drug" really adds to their greatness as a band. At this point, I will forget about even attempting to listen to bands such as Obituary because Nightrage are so good, complex, and talented that they will blow away any American death metal band that is active today!

The song "Omen" lyrically tries to tell us that human beings were created to destroy each other. A person isn’t born bad when they come into this world and then the free will that human beings have causes some of them to use this free will for the wrong reasons. Solus sounds like your average instrumental song but the song just flows so well in this album that I can’t call it ordinary. Through 2 full listens of this album, Descent Into Chaos is not a masterpiece but it is an album that is a quality melodic death metal release in the 21^st century. This is one reason why there is potential for Greece to become recognized as a powerhouse nation for the genre of heavy metal. For those of you that enjoyed the music of Nightbreed, another band with the name of night will satisfy you for sure.