So, the drummer Jimmy, The Rev, died. This was gonna be a concept album about a kid who isolates himself and experiences horrors that criticize America, but The Rev died of overdose. Obviously, the band was fucking devastated at the loss of their best friend, and had 2 re-write a lot of the album. Nightmare is another album that holds the speed metal centric hard rock sound A7X is most known 4. But it's also beautiful, holding the title of the band's most personal album, and—emotionally—darkest album.
And it's fucking beautiful. Every song. Even the more tailor made radio/plain songs like the title track and Natural Born Killer are fucking beautiful. Even So Far Away, probably the band's softest song ever, is made more out of love and tribute than anything else. Every song is emotionally held by Jimmy's death, and you get the utmost feeling that they care a fuck ton. The emotional power is unrivaled. You legitimately cannot think about a lot of the songs on this album without thinking of Jimmy.
And I can attest 2 this. On my first listen, I thought it was boring as shit. But irony is a motherfucker. 4 months now I've not been in the best place mentally, not helped by how my cat—pretty much my best friend—died recently. After about an hour of being a stupid crybaby I turned this on, and.. I got it. It finally clicked with me. It's not that loss of some1 close 2 you makes the album entirely resonate, but as I said, it perfectly captures that kind of mindset some1 has upon grief.
It's not all sadness though, cuz when this album goes metal, it gets fucking metal alright. Shit is intense. But so is the nature of metal, so here's some flaws. While the emotional energy on here is strong, it's nature as a time capsule of the thoughts of the band in that time period is kind of conflicting, as while it marks the end of an era, we've also kind of matured and sobered up 2 Jimmy's passing. That isn't entirely bad though, as Nightmare seals its spot in the discography well, showing that the 1 lost member will never be 4gotten. I'm also not a fan of some of the softer and more commercial tracks. I like So Far Away and Fiction, but Victim and Buried Alive just aren't the best. They do what they accomplish, especially Victim, they're just not 4 me.
Overall.. Fucking beautiful. Nightmare marked the end of an era 4 the band, and they're at some of their most mature here. It also has some connections with LiBAD, but we'll get there when we get there.
Nightmare: Beauty In It's Simplest Album
Man. What do I say about this album?
So, the drummer Jimmy, The Rev, died. This was gonna be a concept album about a kid who isolates himself and experiences horrors that criticize America, but The Rev died of overdose. Obviously, the band was fucking devastated at the loss of their best friend, and had 2 re-write a lot of the album. Nightmare is another album that holds the speed metal centric hard rock sound A7X is most known 4. But it's also beautiful, holding the title of the band's most personal album, and—emotionally—darkest album.
And it's fucking beautiful. Every song. Even the more tailor made radio/plain songs like the title track and Natural Born Killer are fucking beautiful. Even So Far Away, probably the band's softest song ever, is made more out of love and tribute than anything else. Every song is emotionally held by Jimmy's death, and you get the utmost feeling that they care a fuck ton. The emotional power is unrivaled. You legitimately cannot think about a lot of the songs on this album without thinking of Jimmy.
And I can attest 2 this. On my first listen, I thought it was boring as shit. But irony is a motherfucker. 4 months now I've not been in the best place mentally, not helped by how my cat—pretty much my best friend—died recently. After about an hour of being a stupid crybaby I turned this on, and.. I got it. It finally clicked with me. It's not that loss of some1 close 2 you makes the album entirely resonate, but as I said, it perfectly captures that kind of mindset some1 has upon grief.
It's not all sadness though, cuz when this album goes metal, it gets fucking metal alright. Shit is intense. But so is the nature of metal, so here's some flaws. While the emotional energy on here is strong, it's nature as a time capsule of the thoughts of the band in that time period is kind of conflicting, as while it marks the end of an era, we've also kind of matured and sobered up 2 Jimmy's passing. That isn't entirely bad though, as Nightmare seals its spot in the discography well, showing that the 1 lost member will never be 4gotten. I'm also not a fan of some of the softer and more commercial tracks. I like So Far Away and Fiction, but Victim and Buried Alive just aren't the best. They do what they accomplish, especially Victim, they're just not 4 me.
Overall.. Fucking beautiful. Nightmare marked the end of an era 4 the band, and they're at some of their most mature here. It also has some connections with LiBAD, but we'll get there when we get there.
Song ranking
1. Tonight the World Dies
2. Buried Alive
3. Victim
4. Nightmare
5. Fiction
6. So Far Away
7. Welcome to the Family
8. Danger Line
9. God Hates Us
10. Natural Born Killer
11. Save Me