Album Review: Nightmare - Encrytped

I'm not sure what it says, if anything, about a band if they have three different singers on three consecutive albums. That's the situation Nightmare finds themselves in, and it does make it difficult to build up any sort of consistency. I absolutely loved "Dead Sun", which featured Maggy Luyten on vocals. Her voice was exactly what my mind wanted to hear, and that album won me over quickly. The follow-up featured new singer Madie, and shifted the tone into something a bit cleaner and more epic. It took time, but I grew to like that album a lot as well.

So when news came that Barbara Mogore would be taking over and giving the band yet another facelift, I will admit to feeling a bit 'over it'. Nightmare hadn't meant enough to me to be worth the learning curve on every album. I listened to the teaser song the put out, and there was something in there to catch my attention. Barbara's voice has more of the gritty tone Maggy had, and perhaps that meant this record wouldn't be so new after all.

Kicking off the album with "Nexus Inferis", Nightmare is hitting all the right marks. It has their familiar approach of being as heavy as power metal can be, with chugging riffs that hit like a ton of bricks. They give way to a melodic chorus where hints of keyboards expand the score, and Barbara's voice is allowed to take center stage. That's where things get a bit odd. Her tone is quite pleasing, but whether it's her performance or the production, she struggles to rise above the clamor of the band. The biggest hook of the song is buried slightly in the mix, which is a shame.

"The Blossom Of My Hate" follows by injecting harsh vocals in the verse, another decision I could do without. The music is already aggressive enough, and if I wanted to listen to non-melodic screaming, I wouldn't have put on a Nightmare record. I know artists like to try new things from time to time, but there is also an artistic identity that needs to be maintained. It isn't the only time they do this either, but putting something that will annoy a number of fans right near the start of the album is a message this might not be a record we're going to want to continue with.

They double-down on not trusting their own singer with "Voices From The Other Side", where male vocals enter at one point to again tamp down the melodies being built. Everything adds up to give me the impression they don't have faith in putting Barbara in the spotlight to shine. Maybe that's a good decision, as this album also feels like it has less in the way of hooks, so keeping her a bit in the background can save her from taking all the blame in that department.

The title track sits in the middle of the record, and is easily the best song here. The melody has more grandeur to it, Barbara is able to push to the front of the mix, and it gives an indication that the right approach would be quite successful with this lineup. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen often enough here, and the record winds up sounding like a tamer version of the previous two. It doesn't have the gritty fire Maggy brought, nor the dark beauty Madie gave with more consistency. This album sits between those two, and gets caught in the middle.

Yet again, we find ourselves with a case of a decent record getting pulled down by expectations. This record is still a solid listen, but it's definitely nothing I would recommend over either "Dead Sun" or "Aeterium". The switch in singers was not seamless, and the running order of the record sounds like the chronology of a band getting comfortable with their new member. If that's the case, they should have kept working until the whole album sounded a cohesive as the "Encrypted" and "Incandescent" pair. If they did, I would be commending them for overcoming long odds.

Instead, I have to tell you this record leaves me wondering what it could have been if the band wrote a few more songs before going into the studio.