CD Odyssey Disc 1840: Nite
Music for moshing and the occasional blood sacrifice
After a delightful evening spent with the love of my life, I awoke to sunshine and a readiness in my heart to write about music. Read on, and you’ll find me doing just that.
Disc 1840 is…Cult of the Serpent Sun
Want to read how albums are selected and what the ratings mean? Click my introductory post and learn more. Earlier reviews dating back to 2009 are at A Creative Maelstrom (my blog).
Artist: Nite
Year of Release: 2025
What’s up with the Cover? On their third album Nite continues their tradition of featuring creepy robed figures on their album covers.
Here we’ve got some cultists resurrecting some horrific shade out of a pile of what appears to be dirt, snakes and blood.
I wonder if each cultist is assigned his own ornate staff, if the staff designates rank, or if it is just whoever arrives earliest gets to pick first.
How I Came To Know It: I read a review of this album on Angry Metal Guy (a great metal music review blog if you don’t know it) and decided to give it a listen. I liked it so much I bought all their albums, but this is the first one to come up for review.
How It Stacks Up: I have three Nite albums and I like them all. I haven’t explored the other two as fully, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say “Cult of the Serpent Sun” is #1.
Ratings: 4 stars
If you are wondering what music cultists play in the clubhouse when they are relaxing between rituals, look no farther than “Cult of the Serpent Sun”. Nite’s brand of traditional heavy metal, infused with a healthy mix of crunchy riffs and dark meandering solos, is just the thing to lift your energy levels after a long night of sacrificing vagrants and virgins to the elder gods.
“Cult of the Serpent Sun” is the band’s most oppressive record yet, and even the soaring solos feel tethered to a thick and viscous production that speaks of fell deeds done in the dark.
Lead singer Van Labrakis has the perfect voice for Nite’s vibe. He has a purposeful rasp to his delivery reminiscent of a young Lemmy, but a bit less punk and a bit more “all hail great Cthulhu”. Labrakis doesn’t demonstrate a bunch of range, but he infuses every word he sings with a dread import that songs this creepy require to be believable.
I sense that Nite grew up listening to Blue Oyster Cult (i.e. they were raised right) with many of the songs having similarly weird and otherworldly melodic structures. Scott Hoffman’s guitar solos are not at the level of Buck Dharma, but he worships at the same altar and knows how to make things interesting without descending into wankery like a lot of lesser NWOTHM acts. He also plays with a rich and deliberate tone that reminded me favourably of Dharma.
“Cult of the Serpent Sun” hits hard from the opening notes and does not take its foot off your throat for all of its tight and controlled 38 minutes. Have you heard these riffs before or are they just so cool to appear timeless? Who cares. Set your feet and throw your hair around, and if you aren’t risking throwing your neck out, you’re doing it wrong.
The album’s best song is “Crow (Fear the Night)” and also, coincidentally the only place the band spells the word ‘night’ correctly. The song starts with a guitar riff so obvious and awesome you’ll say “oh, this again”. Not in an exasperated way, but in an excited way. The song also features some delightful “what the hell is happening here?” lyrics, such as:
“Stay strong, my sons
Of Farwin Cove
Your name, forbidden
Forsaken stone
The jade key of life
Will rule them all.”
Um…sure. I don’t know what’s going on, but it sounds like it involves those dudes on the cover. In any event, Nite is reminding us to fear the night, because this is the sort of shit that goes on in it.
Most of the mythology on the record has this same feel that there is another layer of story going on, even though nothing is ever developed into a narrative any more complex than you’ll find in the lyrics above.
The last song – the epic and exultant “Winds of Sokar” - references the ancient Egyptian god of the same name, but otherwise Nite keeps their mythological inspirations close to their vest. If you want to know what’s going on in Farwin Cove, you’re going to have to join the cult.
The record doesn’t have a lot of range, and all the songs have a similar tempo and structure, but since they are all awesome this did not dismay me overmuch. I even forgave the spelling of the band’s name, on account of the nifty looking logo. Sign me up for the next ritual! Er…I mean record.
Best tracks: Cult of the Serpent Sun, Crow (Fear the Night), The Last Blade, Winds of Sokar