Band: Nephwrack
CD Title: Fall of Empires
Year: 2008
Website: www.nephwrack.com
MySpace: myspace.com/nephwrackband
Label: None
Featured on: Loucifer Speaks exclusive
Rating: 9 / 10
More Links: Nephwrack Forum Thread, Nephwrack "Blacks The Sky" Forum Thread, Live @ Hope & Anchor, "The Once and Future King" review
I've been a fan of Nephwrack for quite a while now and I've quickly come to the conclusion that this band goes through members more than I go through earphones for my MP3 player. Which is a lot, in case you were wondering. My earphones have suffered a variety of fates - including being drowned in coffee (it's not good for them, as I discovered) - but I've veered completely off topic now, so I better get back to the task at hand. Anyway, "Fall of Empires" is the current incarnation of Nephwrack showing us what they can do.
Is the new vocalist, Dilian Arnaudov, as good as Christian? Is the new guitarist, Paul May, as good as Fuzz? I was expecting to get all of my questions answered with these five songs. Instead, I'm just even more confused. The new guys are awesome - as were the previous guys.
I was also expecting some new material, but oddly enough it's quite a fulfilling experience hearing these select tracks from "The Once and Future King" played with the new line-up. The structure of the songs themselves hasn't changed all that much, but there does appear to be subtle changes here and there. This is particularly true of the vocals. Dilian Arnaudov really goes for it and proves on numerous occasions that he's got a good ol' set of lungs on him!
With Dilian Arnaudov Nephwrack have definitely earned themselves a few comparisions withing the Power Metal genre, but don't go and label them just yet. If this EP is anything to go by (and I hope it is) then Nephwrack still have enough of that balls to the wall old school Metal that keeps people like me happy and hungry for more. Also, the extreme vocals, courtesy of Ed Simmonds, always make me want to don my spikey armband and move to Norway.
If you've never taken the time to listen to Nephwrack, then here's a perfect opportunity. You can download this EP (for free!) from their website. The same goes for those of you who have already listened to the band. In fact, everybody should now stop what they're doing (or least finish reading this review first!), go to the Nephwrack website and download the EP. What's the worst that could happen?
Nephwrack have a fantastic sound that is surprisingly unique. At the moment I can't think of any other bands that sound like this... and, even if there were such bands, I doubt they'd be as good.
So, why am I giving them 9/10 again? (I also gave the album, "The Once and Future King", the same rating.) Well, I'm giving the 9 because the music is fantastic (as I suspected!). They only lose a point because there were no new songs... and I'm a sucker for a new song. C'mon guys, gimme a new album!
01 Fall of Empires
02 By The Light
03 Messiah's Day
04 Blacks The Sky
05 Leviathan Rises
