Nyktophobia shows its ambitions.
Two and a half years after their last release, the German band made up of Tomasz Wisniewski (vocals, ex-Dawn of Disease), Michael Tybussek (guitar, ex-December Flower), Ben Bays (bass, Resurrected, Battlesword) and Phillip Reuter (guitar, Extinction) is joined by Michiel van der Plicht (drums, Layers of Devotion, Pestilence, Tyranthrope, ex-God Dethroned… ) to put the finishing touches to To The Stars, the fourth album, released via Apostasy Records.
The ascent begins with The Gateway, a soothing keyboard instrumental that sets the stage for the melodies of the eponymous To The Stars, which are naturally reinforced by saturation and ferocious vocal parts. Blast acceleration also remains very harmonious, allowing the musicians to go wild before moving on to melancholy with Farewell, a slightly shorter composition that doesn’t shy away from offering us a different intensity, with some interesting flare-ups all the same. We’re back into rage with Charon Gate, which explodes almost immediately, then offers us a solid, sometimes jerky rhythm, leaving the leads the possibility of creating soaring harmonics, as on Fall of Eden, where the haunting dimension is much more present, even during the most virulent passages. Gentleness returns at the start of Progenitor with a majestic symphonic passage, but is eventually joined by saturated riffs that give it epic tones, to be found throughout the composition, which effortlessly combines these two aspects, but also on Behind the Stars Exists No Light, where the frantic approach takes precedence, tempered by a moment of floating in the middle of the composition. The sound gradually fades out, and Millenium begins with an almost relaxing quietude that is swept away by the riffs and, above all, the vocal aggression. It’s then with keyboards that the band guides us to Voyager 1 and its futuristic cosmic touches, which perfectly accompany the transcendent sound throughout, and which only lets us regain our senses when it dissipates.
Nyktophobia‘s sound takes on a spacey dimension to complete its epic approach with To The Stars, making the album a must-have for fans of melodic death, but also of transcendent ambiences and heady guitars.
90/100