Power Metal is for sure not my preferred cup of beer but if there is one band which has impressed me over the years with their great releases it’s for sure the French band NIGHTMARE. The band from Grenoble was founded in 1979 (!!!) and 30 years are – even if the band split up for over a decade (1987 -1999) – a remarkable amount of time within the extreme Metal scene. The former 2 albums via Regain Records (“The Dominion Gate” and “Genetic Disorder”) offered a solid dose of aggressive Power Metal mixed with pure Heavy Metal – plus a hell of fantastic melodies. During the last two years the band signed a new contract with the German based AFM Records but NIGHTMARE are still a restless bunch of Metalheads who perfectly know how to write great songs even if the aggression level has been slightly reduced. The presented 10 songs are again combining the best of both worlds, meaning the Power Metal aggression and the traditional Heavy Metal pathos. I just wished that the album could offer more hymns like the fantastic opener ‘Eternal Winter’ but this is not really a point of critism. Hopefully their new label can help NIGHTMARE to reach a wider audience because quality wise the band can compete with a lot of the famous bands of this genre. www.myspace.com/nightmareofficial, www.afm-records.com.