There’s much more than meets the ear going on here. This is no simple, production-line metalcore album. Nightmare is a varied musical journey.There are certainly metalcore-esque moments. And sure, the presence of former Dream Theater skin basher Mike Portnoy certainly helps matters a great deal. But Avenged Sevenfold have crafted something pretty special on this record. The title track, whilst excessively rockin’, is probably the least interesting track on the album. Delve beyond the opener and the rewards are great.
Dangerline can only be described as thrash pop. Violins, and something quite akin to chamber music, greet you in the opening of Buried Alive, before it morphs into power ballad territory. But the song ain’t done yet. It evolves further, getting heavy and winding up sounding quite Metallica-like. Everything explodes next up, with Natural Born Killer, but manages to do so with a strong sense of dynamics and some killer melodic leads. It’s exhilarating stuff.
The band shift back a gear next, and provide yet another dramatic dynamic shift in the process, with the mostly acoustic So Far Away. And so it goes on, with one pleasant surprise after another. This album is a wild and wonderful ride, tinged with sadness but far from dwelling on it, and showing many sides to this band. And it all works.
Best track : Buried Alive
If you like these, you’ll dig this : Chimaira, Bleeding Through, Atreyu
In a word : Unexpected