Nightmare | Triumph Through Tragedy
Introduction:
This album is the one that we all love. Except we also hate what it represented. This album is impossible to talk about without bringing him up. The Rev. For those of us fans at the time, it was like losing a member of our own family. But I think we can all be happy knowing that he's looking down at the work the band has done from Metal heaven, up there with Cliff and Gar and DIO and Lemmy, and smiling on it. Because the Rev at least went out with a bang, an album that restored my own faith in the band after the Self-Titled lost a lot of it, and an album that would become perhaps their most acclaimed and mature in their entire discography. This is Nightmare.
Analysis:
Mike Portnoy provides the session drums here, and he's always a great musician, so I don't really need to talk much about him. What I can talk about is how even in his last works, the Rev's writing was phenomenal, and the final drums are indicative of his style, his writing more than Portnoy's own. The bass guitar is not only crunchier and better crafted than ever, but by God, it's actually audible. That's right, you can actually hear the bass guitar. And it's amazing. Just hearing the bassline to "Natural Born Killer" makes me wanna smash something.
The guitars are great too. There's definitely more good riffs here than on S/T, Zacky for sure has more presence in many tracks with riffs ranging from crunchy hard rock to more Thrashy tones, to even one example of some Gothenburg esque riffing. Brian's lead guitar is also at its most melodic I feel. It's not as wild or shredding as COE, but it's a step up from S/T for sure and they compliment each other very well. Like some of the riffs, I get some WTF vibes from the atmosphere they create.
Matt's vocals reached near perfection here, with a perfect balance of aggression and smoothness to it. The only aspect holding this album back is production. While the mix is fantastic, it ultimately is subdued by an unnecessary amount of polish. That and the Dynamic Range is probably the lowest to my ears, although basically every album before HTTK had some loudness war stuff, so it doesn't bother me too much. Overall Nightmare beats S/T in every aspect.
Track-by-track:
The album opens with "Nightmare". Actually, this is probably my least favorite opener at this point. To be honest though, I can't exactly say why, especially when I find the demo to be fantastic. I guess it being more of a hard rock opener rather than an epic Metal opener like "Critical Acclaim" or "Unholy Confessions" just doesn't sit well with me, but whatever. Lyrics are kinda cheesy, but the guitar is alright and the atmosphere is great. Things get better with "Welcome To The Family", a great hard rock song that honestly feels like some of the better parts of S/T made into a fully realized product. Great riff to it, one of my favorite A7X chorus', and a decent breakdown in the bridge. "Danger Line" is also pretty good, with an awesomely aggressive chorus and emotional ending. It also has some of Brian's best leads here.
"Buried Alive" though, this is where things get truly amazing. It's an A7X take on the Metallica ballad formula, except it doesn't ripoff a specific song or anything, it's just a tribute (See HTTK, you can be a tribute without just taking riffs!). The ballad part is great, but it's the ending that makes it. It's like a Pantera version of "Ride The Lightning" complete with Matt's aggressive vocals and cruchy riffs. And one awesome song is followed with another. "Natural Born Killer" might be the coolest song on this album, sounding straight out of Waking The Fallen but with a little of "Demons" added for good measure. Thumping bassline, great riff, Matt's best vocals since "And All Things Will End", and a catchy chorus. Everything about Nightmare shines here. And then there's "So Far Away". I know this is a meaningful song and all but, it's just... it bores me. Aside from the ending I just kinda find it to be a bit of generic acoustic ballad. It's better than "Nothing Else Matters", but it's no "Buried Alive".
"God Hates Us". So this is my favorite song on the album. Yeah, big shock DarkLordRyan thinks the best song is the heaviest one. BUT IT'S SO GOOD MAN. A Gothenburg riff, screams and growls, fast paced drums, and oh that chaotic solo. It's the A7X song that feels made for me more than anything else. And I love it to pieces. "Victim" is next. I've gone back and forth on this one. On it's own, it's actually a very good song, with a great chorus and bridge and verses. I think the problem I always had with this song is that I usually listen to albums in their entirety, and by this point there had been two other ballads on the album and the outro of "Danger Line" was ballady too. It's just too much, especially when "Victim" goes on a little long. The first minute of the song and the last minute could be cut out and I'd miss nothing. The only thing there is the generic opera voice in the background. The middle 5 minutes are great though, so that does still elevate it above the credit I've given it in the past (You happy now? I said I like "Victim"). Now there's "Tonight The World Dies". Another ballad. Only this one is trying to be a less cool version of "Use The Man" by Megadeth. This song is easily my least favorite on the album because it's just so boring. Even "So Far Away" is more investing to me. And by this point the amount of ballads just annoys me. Matt has his most awesomely aggressive singing on this album, and so much of it is using his softer voice. The song even has flashes of his aggro vocals, which sound awesome. But out of place. A bland, if harmless song.
"Fiction" is the best ballad here. Reason 1: it's piano led and not another acoustic/clean guitar one. Reason 2: "LET IT BUUUURRRRNNNN". Seriously, the Rev's last vocals he ever uttered are probably his best. The song is just awesome. And it's followed by more awesomeness, "Save Me". After "Dear God" and the insane amount of ballads this album has, I was worried we might get another boring attempt at being "experimental". No, we're back to the closers we used to get, in fact (And my intense love of the first three closers makes me hate saying this), it's the best one yet. It's heavy and proggy, and ironically that makes it end up being more experimental than anything they make when they're trying too hard to be experimental (cough Lost cough). It's one of their greatest masterpieces, and serves as an excellent way to end an era.
"Buried Alive" though, this is where things get truly amazing. It's an A7X take on the Metallica ballad formula, except it doesn't ripoff a specific song or anything, it's just a tribute (See HTTK, you can be a tribute without just taking riffs!). The ballad part is great, but it's the ending that makes it. It's like a Pantera version of "Ride The Lightning" complete with Matt's aggressive vocals and cruchy riffs. And one awesome song is followed with another. "Natural Born Killer" might be the coolest song on this album, sounding straight out of Waking The Fallen but with a little of "Demons" added for good measure. Thumping bassline, great riff, Matt's best vocals since "And All Things Will End", and a catchy chorus. Everything about Nightmare shines here. And then there's "So Far Away". I know this is a meaningful song and all but, it's just... it bores me. Aside from the ending I just kinda find it to be a bit of generic acoustic ballad. It's better than "Nothing Else Matters", but it's no "Buried Alive".
"God Hates Us". So this is my favorite song on the album. Yeah, big shock DarkLordRyan thinks the best song is the heaviest one. BUT IT'S SO GOOD MAN. A Gothenburg riff, screams and growls, fast paced drums, and oh that chaotic solo. It's the A7X song that feels made for me more than anything else. And I love it to pieces. "Victim" is next. I've gone back and forth on this one. On it's own, it's actually a very good song, with a great chorus and bridge and verses. I think the problem I always had with this song is that I usually listen to albums in their entirety, and by this point there had been two other ballads on the album and the outro of "Danger Line" was ballady too. It's just too much, especially when "Victim" goes on a little long. The first minute of the song and the last minute could be cut out and I'd miss nothing. The only thing there is the generic opera voice in the background. The middle 5 minutes are great though, so that does still elevate it above the credit I've given it in the past (You happy now? I said I like "Victim"). Now there's "Tonight The World Dies". Another ballad. Only this one is trying to be a less cool version of "Use The Man" by Megadeth. This song is easily my least favorite on the album because it's just so boring. Even "So Far Away" is more investing to me. And by this point the amount of ballads just annoys me. Matt has his most awesomely aggressive singing on this album, and so much of it is using his softer voice. The song even has flashes of his aggro vocals, which sound awesome. But out of place. A bland, if harmless song.
"Fiction" is the best ballad here. Reason 1: it's piano led and not another acoustic/clean guitar one. Reason 2: "LET IT BUUUURRRRNNNN". Seriously, the Rev's last vocals he ever uttered are probably his best. The song is just awesome. And it's followed by more awesomeness, "Save Me". After "Dear God" and the insane amount of ballads this album has, I was worried we might get another boring attempt at being "experimental". No, we're back to the closers we used to get, in fact (And my intense love of the first three closers makes me hate saying this), it's the best one yet. It's heavy and proggy, and ironically that makes it end up being more experimental than anything they make when they're trying too hard to be experimental (cough Lost cough). It's one of their greatest masterpieces, and serves as an excellent way to end an era.
Song Ranking:
1. God Hates Us.
2. Natural Born Killer.
3. Save Me.
4. Fiction.
5. Buried Alive.
6. Welcome To The Family.
7. Danger Line.
8. Victim.
9. Nightmare.
10. So Far Away.
11. Tonight The World Dies.
2. Natural Born Killer.
3. Save Me.
4. Fiction.
5. Buried Alive.
6. Welcome To The Family.
7. Danger Line.
8. Victim.
9. Nightmare.
10. So Far Away.
11. Tonight The World Dies.
Conclusion:
Nightmare is one of the best albums of our time. But it's also an incredibly flawed one. The production is overdone, hindering the heavier elements. There are too many ballads, especially in the second half of the album. And while Matt's vocals are the best here, he only really uses their power in "Buried Alive", "Natural Born Killer", "God Hates Us", and "Save Me". That said, this album did bring back the sincerity and atmosphere so sorely lacking on the S/T, and the good massively outweighs the bad. It ties with STST for my third place overall, and as such I give it an 8.5/10.
With that out of the way, next thing I'm gonna do is get back to Megadeth reviews. Reviewers block made me stop after Peace Sells, I promised the entire classic era by the end of 2019. So I'll do SFSGSW and Rust. Then I'll get back to A7X for the album I have been looking forward to reviewing most of all.
Next time, I TEAR HTTK APART
With that out of the way, next thing I'm gonna do is get back to Megadeth reviews. Reviewers block made me stop after Peace Sells, I promised the entire classic era by the end of 2019. So I'll do SFSGSW and Rust. Then I'll get back to A7X for the album I have been looking forward to reviewing most of all.
Next time, I TEAR HTTK APART
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