prog-power

Obviously, I know who Nocturnal Rites are, but I did presume them to have gone MIA, since it was ten or so years, since their last album. I must say that I first saw the album on vinyl and I was struck by it’s cool cover artwork… and after that I thought to fire up a google search in case they had any videos out. True that “Before We Waste Away” was released last June and it’s a catchy melodic number in the style of more prog The Poodles, mid to late era Hammerfall and such, with occasional touches of other styles. A certain progress since the somewhat simpler more to the point power metal of their formative days, but still recognizable as them.
 

After the wonderful debut, “The Point of You”, which added them into the premier league category of melodic prog power metal music, Norwegians Withem are back with their sophomore release under a bigger label this time. This means that their hard work has paid back and now they will have a better promotion and they will be available to a bigger market. It’s always good to see bands which we have supported from day one here on Grande Rock to go further and become bigger with every new step.
 

Assignement is a German band that started in 1994 but did not debut until almost a decade later, for whatever reasons. Since then they have steadily released albums since then, the first two with a German singer, the latter two with Argentinian Diego Valdez of Electronomicon and others fame. While the band started as a thrashy heavy hybrid during their demo years, a more prog power sound finally manifested in their albums and I guess the album sounds a bit like your average Rainbow inspired affair with Valdez sounding like Ralph Scheepers on his lower octaves, without the piercing highs, which I guess is not a bad thing.