Griekenland staat bekend voor Tzatsiki, Uzo, Bouzouki's en de Acropolis. Waar er in de toeristische gids nauwelijks over gesproken wordt, is dat Griekenland ook een geweldige extreme metal scene kent met fantastische bands als Rotting Christ en Scepticflesh.
Ook Nightfall maakt deel uit van deze scene. Al sinds 1991 leveren ze ons met regelmaat (op een kleine hiatus tussen 2013 en 2020 nagelaten) goede tot steengoede albums. En als we ons baseren op dit nieuwe I Hate zal hun nieuwe album niet minder dan dat zijn.
De single/video bevat alle elementen die zo kenmerkend zijn voor Nightfall: stevige black/death riffs, heavy drums, gothic melodieën en invloeden van balkanfolk.
Het nieuwe album, Children of Eve, verschijnt op 2 mei op het Season of Mist label.
"I Hate" seethes with thunderous bass, riffs that crack like lightning and blast beats from ex-Septicflesh drummer Fotis Benardo that flow with all the fire and fury of the River Styx.
"I am a manic servant of deity of doom", Efthimis roars as a Greek choir echoes his righteous anger like the call of a siren.
Their new single will have the festival masses headbanging and raising horns, but it wouldn't bear the mark of Nightfall if it didn't possess a deeper message. While the band's disdain for the restrictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church has only grown, their latest act of rebellion was fueled by the ongoing rise of religious wars. "Anger was the root", Efthimis reveals about what inspired Children of Eve. In the video for "I Hate", a fallen warrior is resurrected, only to hunt down his guardian angel.
"Faith is a personal matter", Efthimis continues, "but it can become a dirty business".
It's a message that the frontman hopes will unite metal messiahs across the globe. While Nightfall was on hiatus during the 2010s, Efthimis was diagnosed with depression. He now wears a black mask to cover half of his face to symbolize what's it's like to live under the invisible veil of mental illness. "We can talk about this. We can sing about it", he says when asked about the band's new initiative Metal Music Against Depression (MMaD), which is supported by the European Alliance Against Depression in Germany. "We can build a community that's based on understanding".
