Nightingale - Retribution

(CD 2014, 44:35, Inside Out Music)

The tracks:
  1- On Stolen Wings(4:29)
  2- Lucifer's Lament(4:49)
  3- Chasing The Storm Away(3:52)
  4- Warriors Of The Dawn(3:41)
  5- Forevermore(4:07)
  6- Divided I Fall(3:39)
  7- The Voyage Of Endurance(5:06)
  8- 27 (Curse or Coincidence?)(5:10)
  9- The Maze(3:52)
10- Echoes Of A Dream(5:43)

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Retribution is the sixth studio album by Swedish AOR/hard rockers Nightingale, the quartet based around the musical multi-talent Dan Swano (vocals, guitar and keyboards).

This new album contains ten songs steeped in uncomplicated seventies and eighties flavored rock. It is a mix of melodic hard rock, progressive rock and classic rock and all the songs are on a high musical level. So, imagine a mixture of bands such as Opeth, Anathema, Kansas, Styx, Journey, Ten, Magnum and Marillion and you will know what to expect. The album begins rather light and melodic with the AOR-like songs On Stolen Wings and Lucifer's Lament before you are treated to the rather “commercial” Warriors Of The Dawn; a great song with an addictive chorus. For me the highlight of the album is the last track Echoes Of A Dream, which clocks at almost six minutes, being a classic hard rock track with lots of variety and melody. The only weak song on the album for me is the acoustic track Divided I Fall, which is rather lame and totally predictable. All in all I would really recommend this album to fans of AOR and melodic classic hard rock; Swano did a great job! Retribution comes packaged in beautiful artwork courtesy of Travis Smith (Nevernore, Katatonia, Opeth) and the first CD pressing comes with O-card packaging and the entire album as full dynamic vinyl mix in high-resolution MP3 format as enhancement.

***+ Martien Koolen (edited by Robert James Pashman)

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