NIGHTINGALE: Retribution (ATMOSPHERIC METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Formerly a true stakhanovist multiplying projects with various styles, from the most crazy Death metal (Pan.Thy.Monium) to Doom (Godsend), without forgetting the progressive of which he has always been a great fan (Star One), multi-instrumentalist and producer in the 90's, Dan Swanö has unfortunately long since reduced his activities. If he is still very present behind the console, his appearances as a musician are now rarer, reduced only to Witherscape and Nightingale, whose silence for seven years has not failed to worry us.

Hence the enthusiasm that welcomes his return with this "Retribution" that we were no longer really expecting. This eighth offering is therefore (double) good news as well as a confirmation. Good news because in addition to the fact that it is the precious sign of life of an artist as generous as he is sincere, it testifies to an always equal inspiration, at the origin of powerful melodic compositions, chiselled in the manner of a goldsmith. Confirmation because the album takes things where "White Darkness" had left them in 2007, the band remaining faithful to the recipe established by "Invisible", based on racy hard rock with progressive touches.

Nightingale became a band with "Alive Again" when Swanö and his brother Tom Nouga were joined by the rhythm pair of Erik Oskarsson and Tom Björn. This being the case, with his inimitable voice capable of producing shivers, Dan inevitably catches the attention. The four minutes of the opener 'On Stolen Wings' are enough to make the listener happy to savour these vocal lines that have definitely lost none of their seductive power. Classical and catchy, this song immediately sets a tried and tested framework, perhaps unsurprisingly but nevertheless unstoppable.

But "Retribution" displays a quality of writing that makes it superior to its predecessor, a brilliant journey marked by nuggets such as the dark 'Warriors Of The Dawn', 'Chasing The Storm Away', a light bubble swept away by keyboards as discreet as they are superb, 'Echoes Of A Dream', which ideally completes the menu with its desperate ambiences that explode during a tempestuous finale. Let's also mention the sweet ballad 'Divided I Fall', the theater of a truly romantic performance of the singer. But all the titles deserve to be evoked as they each contain a treasure trove of melody.

"Retribution" lives up to this unexpected return, an irresistible collection of elegant compositions that hit the bull's eye. Let's just hope that the Swedes don't decide to hibernate again because we can measure how much we missed them... - Official website

NIGHTINGALE

RETRIBUTION

INSIDEOUT MUSIC

ATMOSPHERIC METAL