Nyxborn - Fatesblood

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NYXBORN is a one-man metal project hailing from Greece, formed in 2016. Described as “dark, heavy and progressive, “Fatesblood” is his second full-length release, and contains seven tracks. “Abhorred Shears” leads off the album, with a bit of a charging Power Metal sound. The production is bit muted and the guitars sound somewhat like IRON MAIDEN, but a bit darker. The vocals are a bit pitchy. “Lachesis” opens with a Spanish-tinged acoustical guitars and soft clean vocals. His voice sounds like Bruce Dickinson’s to me…it’s kind of uncanny. The riffs are simple but there is that darkness there as in the first song. It picks up about half-way through the end with fury and purpose, and then it’s back to the original sound.

“Fated Silence” has a bit of an edgy riff, filled in with the addition of a second guitar. Again, the vocals are a bit pitchy. When he settles on the note he is looking for they are dead on, but along the way they miss the note every now and again. It makes it hard to enjoy the song, because his voice is nice to listen to. “God War” opens with a dark sequence of clean guitar notes that echo in hallowed halls. The main riff comes in with a mid-tempo lumber. It definitely has a regal feeling in the chord progressions and long held vocal notes.

“Handful of Dirt, One Thousand Graves” is a much faster and shorter song, opening with a smooth but dark riff and edgy, raspy vocals. It has a compelling and harrowing sound. “Descend in Flames” is over six minutes in length, opening with clean guitars and vocal chants that sound angelic. From there it turns darker, with a mid-tempo groove and vocals that follow the main riff. Just after the half way mark those angelic voices return with mesmerizing guitar parts. It crescendos towards the end in probably what was the most enjoyable song on the album for me. “Odysseus in Hades” closes the album; an eleven-minute beast. The opening sequence is fierce and strong, like the hero himself. It picks up steam towards the middle and to completion, like the sounds of Odysseus hacking through opponents in Hell.

Overall, this was a decent album with potential. You can tell that John probably tracked this himself as it feels unrefined, but that is what you often get with one man projects like this. It showed flashes of potential, but many of the guitar tracks were muddy from poor production, and some of the longer songs meandered around a bit.

Songwriting: 6
Originality: 6
Memorability: 4
Production: 4