A product of California, Nightshadow have embraced an almost purely homogenous European Power Metal foundation in their debut album Strike Them Dead. The quintet, featuring guitarists Nick Harrington (who courageously sent a copy of the album to me) and Danny Fang, drummer Sean Woodman, bassist Chris Bader, and vocalist Brian Dell, are offering a professional product, with the 'I's dotted and the 'T's crossed, but ultimately, Nightshadow's contract is typeset, and not written in blood. For me, European Power Metal doesn't draw my interest over our domestic product often. The best albums rely on melodically memorable anthemic and crowd engaging choruses, impressively talented vocalists who send the neighborhood dogs into convulsions, and virtuoso-level musicianship from all involved. Nightshadow does their best with what they have, which is quite a bit, but they will need to push their talent to the next level to match the big dogs.
Otherwise, Nightshadow has succeeded were you to pull out a checklist of expected attributes you'd look for in a Power Metal album. The production of Strike Them Dead, for example, is strong. The guitars are crisp and solos, rhythm tracks, and harmony sections are easily distinguishable. Bader's bass playing occupies the lower frequencies with room, evidence of the record getting a proper mixing and mastering treatment, and Woodman's percussion responsibilities are recreated with an industry standard treatment that gets little criticism - though at the expense of claiming zero accolades; safe and indiscriminate if you will. Song structures offer some variety but are not progressive - either unintentionally or due to mature-self actualization - enough to push Nightshadow into a category they can't compete in with Progressive titans. Dell's vocals are capable enough to fill the role of the average Power Metal vocalist but he can't seem to cross the proverbial threshold.
Nightshadow has a solid foundation in the twin guitar duo of Harrington and Fang who are impressive in their lead work and who invoke thoughts of Dragonforce's Li and Totman, but on codeine; Harrington and Fang are incapable of matching the British duo's ostentatiousness at this point, but maybe in the future with bionic augmentations they could get there. Still, they are the Nightshadow's best asset and support Harrington's founding of the project and persistence to get his music to listeners. One area which they do not excel is in the rhythm department, not in terms of performance, but in terms of creativity. There isn't a single rhythm on the album which is a standout; the band needs to develop a more substantial style in this department to set them apart. This could come in the form of a loose and reckless speed-metal inspired abandon, something slightly more aggressive such as the rhythmic section of Primal Fear or Grave Digger circa The Reaper, or an angle which would exaggerate the melodicism with more memorable chord progressions and drive more experimentation with the leads and harmonies.
Dell is at his best when he is not screaming or incorporating anything which resembles influence from a Metalcore point of origin, elements which pop up from time to time and which sound whiney and spoiled. For example, were the whole album to be as melodic and lofty as during the bridge before "Children of the Night"'s middling petulant sounding chorus, Nightshadow would gain the type of melodic overtones and memorability that would serve them like a court jester fettered with a Running Man-styled exploding neck bracelet. But it's the lyrical content which is the biggest detractor, content which Nick himself admitted in a recent interview with The Bone Yard is out of his hands. "Lyrically, I can not write lyrics to save my life. As far as the lyrics go, our vocalist Brian writes all the lyrics." Though Dell shows to be a strong vocalist, a poet he is not. I struggled to find any lyrics which roused my interest. A lot of thought seemingly goes into fashioning easy-to-engage crowd moments, such as the endless rousing calls to "Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill The Witch Queen" in, you guessed it, "Witch Queen." Most songs have this typical attempt at anthemics but only Manowar gets a pass for it.
Furthermore, there isn't much intellectual stimulation on the lyrical front. Songs are very typical. "Love and Vengeance" is notable for creating a narrative between the music and literature that is effective, with the 'love' portion of the song's lyrics encompassing the track's clean opening half and the 'vengeance' portion the overdriven second half, but it's so obvious to developed ears that it wouldn't even require mentioning if there were at least a single more interesting moment on the record lyrically. Remember above mentioned Primal Fear's "Formula One?" I think that's the only song I've ever heard which was so obviously about formula one racing. How many songs (and classic legendary songs) are there about Jack the Ripper? Taking the first four song's lyrics and putting them in an online resource which generates literacy levels yields a measurement of no higher than tenth grade. Comparatively, inputting this review, which is nearly identical in word count, yields a reading level of college graduate. In Nightshadow's defense, both Hammerfall's Renegade and Edguy's Savage Poetry yield the same reading level so it's possible this is an algorithm-related inaccuracy with putting in song lyrics, but when I put in the first four songs off Awaken the Guardian, that also yielded a college graduate reading level. Maybe European Power Metal, then, is just geared to those with GED's and lower back tattoos.
For me, however, there isn't much that would draw me back to Strike Them Dead over any number of other options in the same genre which are timeless examples of what makes the truly great rare European Power Metal albums stand taller and prouder than their brood companions. Hammerfall's Renegade, once again, is a prime example of what could have been as generic as what Nightshadow are offering but just has enough grit, enough masculine inspired (and Manowar) kitsch, and imaginative set design to march past the ranks. Edguy's Savage Poetry, also again, falls in line with such description. There is no correlation to US Power Metal to my ears, as the album lacks the dystopian/epic/occult influences of that scene and the thrash-inspired riffing so anyone hoping to find something even poking at the dirt Vicious Rumors or Liege Lord or Helstar or any number of others tread on can unpack their carry-ons right now. Fans of the heyday German Heavy Metal or NWOBHM will also be at a loss as Nightshadow will not push your Balls to the Wall or provide any Power or Glory. There's some intrinsic Iron Maiden influence as there is in everything. It's likely that plenty of Europeans who are rooted in their regional Power Metal exports could find some legroom under Nightshadow's dashboard and Strike Them Dead might travel well for them, but any European Power Metal albums have to offer me first class seats and accommodations, which Nightshadow doesn't, yet.
