CoC : Nightly Gale - ...And Jesus Wept : Review

Nightly Gale - _...And Jesus Wept_
(Pagan, 2001)
by: Brian Meloon (7 out of 10)

Nightly Gale are a Polish doom band who have a unique, eclectic sound. Their website calls their style "dark suicidal doom", though I find that somewhat misleading. The majority of the music is slow, atmospheric, keyboard-enhanced doom with either screamed or somber clean vocals. It isn't particularly "dark" or "suicidal", though there certainly are parts which could be described as such. However, they cover enough different sounds and change them often enough that no one sound dominates their music. The sections vary from a sound similar to the industrial soundscapes of Brighter Death Now to a more traditional gothic rock / metal sound to mid-'90s atmospheric death to almost Burzum-like black metal and everywhere in between. They throw in a few questionable twists here and there, such as bluesy wah-wah guitar solos and jazz/fusion keyboard solos, an electronica/trance beat, and some horns. But the music doesn't rigorously adhere to any particular genre, so such touches don't seem as out of place as you might think. Somewhat surprisingly, the songs flow pretty well, which makes their long running times (the five songs clock in at just over an hour, and the shortest is 9:16) seem much shorter. This is an interesting release, and should be enjoyed by adventurous and open-minded doom fans.

(article published 12/4/2002)