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Cassiopeia is the ninth full-length album by Greek metal act Nightfall. It was released in 2013 and is the group’s second album since they reunited, following on from 2010’s Astron Black and the Thirty Tyrants. Nightfall’s line-up was largely reworked when they returned to the scene and Cassiopeia brings more changes to the personnel, seeing Stathis Ridis (Valet Parn) take over bass duties from Nikos Papadopoulos and the addition of a second guitarist, Constantine (Mystic Prophecy).
The music on Cassiopeia is primarily a melodic death metal based sound, but there are also occasional elements of symphonic death metal, as well as parts which give off a bit of a gothic, doom or black vibe. Vocalist Efthimis Karadimas employs a deep and direct growling style but one where the lyrics remain generally comprehensible. His style is the sort that would slip right into a more extreme death metal act without issue but still works to great effect within Nightfall’s highly melodic music. Both the keyboards of Stathis Cassios and the guitars of Constantine and Evan Hensley add quite the atmospheric touch to the music but Cassiopeia isn’t an album that ever feels like the band forgets that they’re playing an extreme metal genre. The riffs and vocals add a layer of intensity and while it may sometimes seem that on paper the album is made up of conflicting elements and ideas in practice is works really well.
Cassiopeia is a solid effort from Nightfall but despite my overall positive feeling it doesn’t manage to quite work its way up to earn a really high regard from me. It’s the sort of album that I call very worthwhile if the band plays a style you enjoy but not one that stands out from the crowd if you only casually like the genre. The musicianship is high throughout, the songs generally solid, but few ultimately leave the sort of impression that make me consider it a release highlight the way that tracks such as Hubris or Hyperion do. All the same, a great album tier rating is deserved.
82/100
(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/nightfall-cassiopeia-t2796.html))