NIGHT IN GALES — Five Scars (review)

NIGHT IN GALES — Five Scars album cover Album · 2011 · Melodic Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
J-Man
Five Scars is the first album from German melodic death metal act Night In Gales in roughly ten years, so I have no doubt that this one is being highly anticipated by fans worldwide. The melodic riffs that made Night In Gales well-known are all here in full-form, a few modern sensibilities keep things fresh, and the sleek production from Dan Swanö is every bit as excellent as you could've expected. Factor in the top-notch musicianship and you should have one of the year's best melodic death metal albums... which, at least in my mind, is only partially true. Unfortunately, Five Scars seems to be lacking any truly memorable compositions, and the whole album feels a bit "ho-hum" and generic to me. This is undoubtedly a professional and well-made album, but it lacks that extra notch of "bite" that really makes my blood boil. Even though fans of Night In Gales will definitely want to hear Five Scars, there are plenty of better melodeath albums out there this year to check out instead for more casual fans.

For a melodic death metal album especially, the compositions on Five Scars seem to really be lacking in terms of memorability, and I have a tough time picking out more than just a few riffs when the album ends. Even the portions that are memorable never really reach a level of excellence, and the album instead maintains a consistent level of "average" quality. I guess that's really the best way to describe Five Scars in a single word - average. The sonically superior production and terrific musicianship are both substantially above average, but the music itself (in terms of style and songwriting) isn't anything that is particularly noteworthy.

Even though it may sound like I'm coming down really hard on Five Scars, this is actually a pretty good album. It just isn't the triumphant return that I would've hoped for. Rather than returning with a fresh burst of inspiration and strong new tunes, this is the most "by-the-books" effort from Night In Gales as of yet. With that said, the quality of the musicianship, production, and overall product are exceptionally high, so it's hard to consider this one a failure. I'd say that a middle-of-the-road 3 star rating is pretty fair here. Night In Gales fans will want to check this one out, but most metal fans can probably pass.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

Gaia Metalcore
RELATIONS
Buy this album from MMA partners
Decievers Deathcore
ORACLE SPECTRE
Buy this album from MMA partners
A Fountain Of Anguish Is Gone Sludge Metal
TIGGUO COBAUC
Buy this album from MMA partners
Colossal Oppressor Sludge Metal
TEN TON SLUG
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tribus Rattus Mortuus Atmospheric Sludge Metal
TRAP RATT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Relations - Schwarzes Blut - 2020 - Lyric Video
RELATIONS
Bosh66· 2 hours ago
RELATIONS - SHELTER (Official Video)
RELATIONS
Bosh66· 2 hours ago
RELATIONS - NIGHT LIGHTS (Official Video)
RELATIONS
Bosh66· 2 hours ago
ORACLE SPECTRE - VOIDSAYER (OFFICIAL LYRIC VIDEO) [2023]
ORACLE SPECTRE
Bosh66· 2 hours ago
WOMBMOTHER | ORACLE SPECTRE (LYRIC VIDEO)
ORACLE SPECTRE
Bosh66· 2 hours ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed