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Graveshadow: Nocturnal Resurrection

Melodic/Death/Power Metal

1.5/5.0

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Mausoleum Records
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 11.11.2015

So why did I even bother to download this Graveshadow electronic press kit? But I'm getting ahead of myself. Graveshadow arrives from Sacramento, California, and signed to Belgian-based heavy metal label, Mausoleum Records for their first album, Nocturnal Resurrection. The band features to female players: Heather Michele on vocals and Valerie Hudak on keyboards. Graveshadow plays hybrid metal including melodic, gothic, power and, thanks to the growls, death metal. Additionally, they have a guest appearance by Primal Fear's Ralf Scheppers on Blink.

Graveshadow

Now back to my original question: why did I even bother? Perhaps the blame falls upon me for not reading the one-sheet carefully enough and not noticing the words, "powerful operatic vocals shift into unearthly growls." Maybe I was merely naive to trust the Mausoleum brand.

Ugh. This is album is horrible. Right from the start, in Namesake, you get the ugly death/dirty growling vocals, and they don't stop. They're in every song. I spent my entire time hitting the skip button. Even Ralf Scheppers' presence in Blink can't save or salvage this album. Otherwise, Graveshadow creates generally strong and convincing melodic power metal. The simple problem is that I couldn't enjoy the heavy metal with all those death vocals growling about. However, if you like that nonsense, you'll want to check this out.

Graveshadow - Namesake (Official Music Video)

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Ugh. This is album is horrible. Death vocals everywhere in this melodic power metal. I simply found no listening pleasure in Graveshadow's Nocturnal Resurrection.

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