Nighon’s new album, The Somme, is a very interesting and intriguing piece. A concept album with stories from World War I and II, it also draws similarities between those and what is going on in the world today, and it’s an album that will really make you think. Stylistically, in parts the album reminds me a little bit of Deadlock (a firm favourite here at Soundscape!) and if anything, this makes me enjoy the piece even more.
Intended to be listened to all in one go, the flow from one track to the next is almost seamless, and the chunky riffs juxtaposed against the more melodic lines really help The Somme to make an impact. Additionally the powerful deep snarled vocals juxtapose fantastically against the emotively driven clean vocals and both approaches really help to give the music an extra bit of bite – and the clean vocals are infectiously catchy, so you will find yourself singing along to them before you know it!
The Somme is just a powerful and gripping listen. From the hard-hitting wall of noise in The Dirge, to the earworm that is Reclaiming Ravenpoint and the doom-tinged and deliciously dark Scharnhorst, there’s a lot of different styles utilised within the fourteen tracks and it all merges together tremendously.
In short, this album is an excellent release from an awesome band – and I’m now very keen to catch these guys at their upcoming appearance at Nummirock 2017!
9/10
