Over the years Nightrage have had some fairly notable personnel pass through their doors including Tomas Lindberg, Per Jensen and a certain Gus G. In fact the band were formed by Gus G back in 2000, and whilst the impressive array of musicians who've passed through their ranks has helped raise their profile along the way, the main factor in making Nightrage what they are today is a series of absolutely top drawer records.
 
Fifth album 'Insidious' sees them treading a fairly familiar path but that's not bad thing as that path is melodic extreme metal as it was intended (I'm shying away from the melodic death tag because you can't really hear Dismember or Dying Fetus in there for fuck's sake); heavy, insanely catchy and underpinned by superb musicianship and great songs. Cast your mind back to 'Colony' by In Flames and you get the idea.
 
As the album kicks off with opener proper, 'Delirium Of The Fallen', you get the immediate impression this is an album of sheer quality. The screaming riffing and chunky rhythms that got Gothenberg its stellar reputation in the first place are right to the fore, and the track fairly clatters along. The title track then hares off at a frantic pace and is probably the thrashiest song on the album. The guitars and vocals are unrelenting before they give way to more mesmerising lead work and a killer riff which bridges back nicely into a thrashing finale. A lot of songs don't break any moulds but they are played with such verve and intensity that you can't help but get immersed in them. The guitars of Marios Iliopoulos and Olof Morck are absolutely stunning and with some absolutely water tight rhythms and the just-harsh-enough vocals of Antony Hämäläinen, the Nightrage experience really is bang on the money at the moment.
 
In a genre that recently became in danger of being as saturated as metalcore it is great to see an album of this quality upholding the values it was founded on back at the turn of the millenium. And when you hear 'Poisoned Pawn' I think you'll agree that it's one of THE finest metal songs written in many a year. Great riff, a hook you could hang a Middle Eastern tyrant on and a solo that is solid fucking gold. They've got some great variety on here as well with both 'Sham Piety' and 'Cloaked In Wolf Skin' not afraid to really thrash it up with some huge riffing while there are quite laid back tracks, like the intro and outro tracks and 'Solar Corona'. Chuck in a few choice guest appearances, including a bit of fretwork from Mr G and you've got a pretty damn satisfying metal album.

www.nightrage.com