Single Slam – The Damned by Nightrage (Wolf to Man)

Nightrage return with the second single from their new album. This time its The Damned. The Damned will feature on the album Wolf to Man and continues to prove just how much talent and fire the Greek/Swedish melodic death metallers have to offer.

Wolf to Man is due out on the 29th of March via Despotz Records and is one I am really excited for. I am a big fan of these guys, falling in love with their 2011 release Insidious before heading back into their back catalogue. A catalogue that is littered with gems like Wearing a Martyr’s Crown and Sweet Vengeance to name a couple. The albums that came after Insidious are just as good. The Puritan is a vicious jaunt into the extreme side of melodeath. The Venomous keeps the heaviness but drags in tons more melody and is one of my favourite albums of that year, 2017.

Nightrage are held together, it seems, by the one ever present member and insanely talented guitarist, Marios Iliopoulos. You can read our chat with Marios here. Around him there have been loads of member changes over their 20 year existence. Most of the change came in earlier years and they have been more settled recently. They sound so strong at the moment, I do hope they can stay settled. The rest of the band are, on bass its Fransisco Escalona and on drums its Dino George Stamoglou. On vocals it’s Ronnie Nyman and on guitars it’s Magnus Söderman.

The Damned is a 3 and a half minute rager. We jump straight in with a blazing guitar melody over a thick bass line and catchy drum beat. Nyman roars “We are the Damned” and we settle into a chunky riff with  clever drum patterns. The sounds made for head banging to. The verse sees the riff turn to a quick chug as the vocals are roared harshly over the top. It builds up to the chorus staying harsh and heavy with some added backing vocals that give a little extra depth. The chorus ends to a glorious bass riff before heading in for the second verse.

The second chorus sees the riff switch up before we head into a very quick but very skilled solo. Another chorus comes in near the end over a mix of the chunky riff and leads melody. It sounds brilliant. Nightrage do riffs and there are some bangers on this one. There is a lot of groove within their brand of melodic death metal. They play music to bang your head to. Music to mosh to.

Not always settled as a band, they have never sounded as together as they do right now and the music is benefiting massively. The production is spot on. The drums crash hard, the bass stands out, vocals are on point and guitars are on fire.

Wolf to Man is shaping up to be an absolute belter based on the 2 songs dropped so far. Nightrage go from strength to strength with each album and if they continue to release quality music like The Damned, and can keep this line up together, Wolf to Man could see them finally propelled to the heights they so deserve.

The Damned is out now on all the normal streaming platforms. You can also listen to it here, on YouTube. You can preorder Wolf to Man now at Despotz Records. Find out more about Nightrage at their Bandcamp page, their website, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.