Band:	Nightmare
Album:	The Dominion Gate
Style:	Symphonic power metal
Release date:	November 07, 2005
A review by:	Jeff

01. Temple Of Tears
02. A Taste Of Armageddon
03. Messenger Of Faith
04. Secret Rules
05. The Dressmaker
06. Endless Agony
07. Paranormal Magnitude Part II
08. Circle Of The Dark
09. Haunting Memories
10. Heretic
11. The Dominion Gate
12. The Watchtower
13. K-141

I don't know if you remember it, but the previous album of the great French combo Nightmare was already a damn great release, as always. Honestly do you really think that this "habit" could change with them? If yes, well let me tell you that you really don't know the band and that you'll have to listen to their releases to understand that you're just missing something? "The Dominion Gate" is not only the best release of Heavy Metal from France this year, this is also one of the best releases of Heavy Metal of the year and you should have a look on it asap!

"Silent Room" was already great with this really interesting mix between pure melodic Heavy and classy "opera choruses". But with "The Dominion Gate", if you can find the same recipe, you must know that the band push the limit to its maximum now and in addition of the choruses made by the choirs of the Aix En Provence Opera, you'll also have the luck to listen to Floor Jansen on two tracks, "A Taste Of Armageddon" and "The Dominion Gate", like Sander Gommans on "The Watchtower" (note that Ricky Marx also did a solo on "The Dominion Gate"). Those three guests aren't maybe not so important for you, but actually when you think about it believe me that it gives a lot to the music of this new album. As an example, now we have some grunts on a Nightmare's song and it only prove to me that the band (even if they're not some "young" newcomers now (sorry guys ) knows how to produce something modern and doesn't stay in an 80's routine.

But let's talk about the music of the album, as always with Nightmare we're in front of a classy symphonic Heavy Metal and as always the magical voice of Joe Amore is amazing. Really this guy is one of the best singer of Heavy that I know and no need to add anything about the four others musicians. Though, I really like something with Nightmare, (it was already the case on the last album) even if it's always possible to listen to some "old school' tendencies on their songs, it sounds really modern too and nevertheless they didn't follow any trends. I mean that you won't hear any little second of "Power Metal" on this album, at the opposite it's actually really near of Thrash. Also, the band takes some risks, and sometime we're not so far away of Prog Metal with some sonorities (like on "The Watchtower"). These kinds of details are really important for me and it proves above all the quality of the band.

I will add some few words about the production, before that I finish this review. First the sound is perfect and that's not really surprising when you know that Mr Terje Refnes did the mastering and the mixing, and also how could I forger to salute the amazing work of our frenchy fabulous artist JP Fournier who did in my opinion one of his best cover.

As you can understand, this album is a real success and in any way, if you like great Heavy, you could miss this release. "The Dominion Gate" is actually a lot more complex but also interesting then the precednt release that was already really good, then I really hope that people will understand that Nightmare is not only a band for French, they're great and without any doubt they are probably better then a lot of famous "trendy" Heavy Metal bands. "The Dominion Gate" is a great album, please don't miss it?