{"id":32210,"date":"2013-10-07T09:18:27","date_gmt":"2013-10-07T14:18:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=32210"},"modified":"2014-02-08T08:38:25","modified_gmt":"2014-02-08T13:38:25","slug":"knightmare-in-deaths-shadow-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2013\/knightmare-in-deaths-shadow-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Knightmare | In Death\u2019s Shadow<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines<\/span>
\n– Senior Columnist\/News Editor —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"KnightmareHere\u2019s one that slipped by us at the tail end of 2012 and deserves another look. In Death\u2019s Shadow<\/em> is the debut full-length from Melbourne-based heavy metal band Knightmare. Despite having a name that\u2019s as overused as it is cheesy, Knightmare strikes a perfect balance between power and progressive metal, with elements of thrash and traditional metal as well \u2013 think Tad Morose meets Evergrey, which isn\u2019t a bad thing by any means.<\/p>\n

This is one of those albums you can\u2019t help but underestimate going in. Whether it\u2019s the band name or the fact that it\u2019s an independently released album or that they\u2019re a power metal band that\u2019s not from Europe, you don\u2019t expect an album like this to blow you away from the very start. That\u2019s exactly what In Death\u2019s Shadow does though. At first it\u2019s the sheer heaviness that hits you, but in short order you appreciate everything Knightmare brings together here, pairing that heaviness with the kind of melody and grandeur you expect from a power metal band, plus drumming worthy of a technical death metal band and hugely powerful vocals. This is power metal without the cheese and progressive metal without the self-indulgence. And if that isn\u2019t enough, In Death\u2019s Shadow<\/em> has a production job and layouts worthy of any major (metal) label release.<\/p>\n

There are only seven songs on In Death\u2019s Shadow<\/em>, but they\u2019re all fairly lengthy tracks. The strongest songs are right in the middle. \u201cFalse Prophets,\u201d \u201cApocalypse\u201d and \u201cKnightmare\u201d are just fantastic heavy power metal songs that are guaranteed to get heads banging. \u201cUnity Through Chaos\u201d is another standout, sounding a lot like something Iced Earth might have come up with back in the late \u201890s. Ending the album with an instrumental song, especially a 10-minute one, seems like an odd choice. Parking it just before the end so we could get one more chance to hear Mick \u201cMickoWar\u201d Simpson screaming for vengeance before the album closed would have made more sense, but that\u2019s a minor gripe.<\/p>\n

In Death\u2019s Shadow<\/em> is an extremely strong debut by a band with a tremendous amount of potential. If you\u2019re a fan of progressive\/power metal bands on the heavier end of the spectrum (like Evergrey, Tad Morose, Iced Earth, Sanctuary and Mercenary), Knightmare is a band you\u2019d do well to check out. It\u2019s easily one of the strongest independent releases in this genre in quite some time, and outshines a fair number of major label releases too.<\/p>\n

Genre: Power Metal, Heavy Metal, Progressive Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nMick Simpson (v)
\nLuke Besley (g)
\nJames Munro (g)
\nMatt McConaghy (b)<\/p>\n

Track Listing:
\n1.\tCazador de Hombres
\n2.\tGranted Death
\n3.\tFalse Prophets
\n4.\tApocalypse
\n5.\tKnightmare
\n6.\tUnity Through Chaos
\n7.\tJudgment<\/p>\n

Website: www.knightmaremetal.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.75\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Justin Gaines – Senior Columnist\/News Editor — Here\u2019s one that slipped by us at the tail end of 2012 and deserves another look. In Death\u2019s Shadow is the debut full-length from Melbourne-based heavy metal […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":32211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8704],"tags":[2317,2491,1097,1098],"class_list":{"0":"post-32210","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2013","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-heavy-metal","10":"tag-power-metal","11":"tag-progressive-metal"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}