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 NIGHTRAGE
By Paul Silbiger
Dreams can come true – just ask Nightrage guitarist and principle songwriter, Marios Iliopoulos. After leaving Greece and his Exhumation past behind him for a new life in Sweden, he managed to assemble a number of talented musicians to support him in the recording of his first album with his new group, Nightrage. Gus G. (Dream Evil, Firewind, Mystic Prophecy) joined in on guitar, plus famed vocalist Tomas Lindberg, who’s resume is almost a laundry list of influential Swedish death metal bands: such scene-makers as At The Gates and The Crown. Finally, legendary drummer Per M. Jensen (The Haunted) joined the fray, lending Nightrage another huge infusion of talent and credibility.
Unfortunately, Per wasn’t there to stay, and bassist Brice Leclercq left as well, leaving the band without a rhythm section upon the release of their first album, ‘Sweet Vengeance’. Without being able to tour, people began to perceive Nightrage as a studio act and super-group, which was pretty far from what Marios had intended.
“It just became that way,” Marios nods when told about the way Nightrage were perceived. “When I moved here from Greece to Sweden I was all alone and I had to build the band from scratch. It took me a while to find the right guys for the band, and it really takes time to discover whether you feel like you’re having a good time playing music with other musicians. I’m glad that I went through that process to get to where we are for the new album.”
The new album is an excellent rendition of melodic death metal. Beautiful, talented guitar parts are juxtaposed with Tomas’ extreme death metal growls, and the new rhythm section of Henric Carlsson on bass and Fotis Bernardo really hold things down, whether the band is grooving to 4/4 or supporting an off-time musical interlude.
“I am very satisfied with the power that we achieved on the new album,” Marios gushes. “I wouldn’t have been able to write this album without the other guys in the band. I can’t write all this stuff on my own. I am the main songwriter – I write most of the lyrics and the music – but I was glad to get collaboration from some of the guys on this new album. Some of these songs were a collaboration between Gus and me, and he’s coming from another era. He’s more into heavy metal, but his style fits very well with Nightrage and I’m willing to have more individual input from the new guys as well.”
When asked to describe the Nightrage sound, Marios gets a little philosophical. “We just play honest music that sounds like the way we feel and doesn’t follow any trends or make any compromises. We just follow our instincts and I think that is what people appreciate the most – that we carry on with our intensity and play what we really feel. You can really hear that on the new album, and I think the fact that we’re a true band on this album and not just a project with session musicians helps that shine through. I think people got the wrong impression with the first album because we had some guest musicians”
I interviewed Tomas a couple years ago for a story I wrote on another Lindberg project, The Great Deceiver. At the time he was on tour with The Crown. He’s the type of musician that doesn’t sit still for a second, and he’s always balancing several commitments at once. I asked Marios whether Nightrage ever encounters challenges thanks to Tomas multiple obligations. “It all depends on his schedule, which is fair,” he humbly admits, “but he wants to play with Nightrage. He told me that this is his only real metal band and he still appreciates music like this and he feels like Nightrage is one of his finest moments in metal history.
“He’s also playing with The Great Deceiver and Disfear right now, but on this album he had more time to work on vocal arrangements and he helped me a lot while we worked together. He also helped me with some song titles and some lyrics here and there.
“It worked better this time, and he actually said that he feels like he’s in a band now for good because he likes what we do. For me, I never expected that to happen. If you’d asked me what I’d hoped for five years ago and told me I’d play in a band with Tomas, I’d never believe it! He’s a legend in death metal, and to cut two albums with him is unbelievable. I was a huge fan of At The Gates and now we play together in the same band. It’s a dream come true for me.”
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