Nightfall | Children Of Eve | Season Of Mist

 

Nightfall has long stood as one of the cornerstone acts of the Greek extreme metal movement. Formed in 1991 in Athens by Efthimis Karadimas, they were the first band of the Hellenic black metal wave to secure an international contract, playing a key role in shaping the melodic and atmospheric tendencies of the region’s underground scene. Alongside Rotting Christ and Septicflesh, Nightfall built a distinctive identity that blended death metal roots with blackened ambience and gothic undertones. Their prolific output in the 1990s through Holy Records helped cement their reputation in Europe, particularly in France.

Despite a fluctuating lineup, Efthimis has remained the driving force and unifying thread of the band’s creative path. After a hiatus, Nightfall returned with renewed strength in the 2020s, aligning with Season Of Mist and releasing “At Night We Prey”, a fierce meditation on mental health and inner darkness. With “Children Of Eve”, their eleventh studio album, Nightfall continues this trajectory of personal and ideological confrontation, delivered through the lens of melodic black metal.

 “Children Of Eve” is a cohesive and aggressive continuation of the modern Nightfall sound. It bears all the familiar ingredients of their recent work: mid-tempo blackened riffing, dark melodic frameworks, and the weight of personal affliction channeled through furious vocal proclamations. From the opening seconds of “I Hate,” it becomes clear that the album leans heavily into its contempt for institutionalized religion and moral manipulation. The riffs are angular but not labyrinthine, forged more for force and repetition than for intricacy.

There’s a rhythmic density throughout, much of which comes from the relentless drumwork of Fotis Benardo, whose background with Septicflesh adds precision without turning mechanical. His drumming doesn’t overpower but rather sets the stage for the slow-burning intensity that defines much of the album’s tempo. The production is deliberately weighty—handled by Efthimis, Fotis, and Thimios Krikos, then finalized by Jacob Hansen—and it brings out the layered instrumentation without glossing over the grit. Guitars from Kostas Kyriakopoulos are sharp and structured, often breaking into twin leads and melody phrases that retain the gothic identity Nightfall has never abandoned.

Vocally, Efthimis maintains his deep-throated roars with clarity and conviction, sometimes layering them with chanting or distant chorus effects, creating an atmosphere of ritual and indictment. His lyrics continue to strike against dogma, personal trauma, and social manipulation, but without turning poetic for its own sake. The rage is personal, focused, and driven by real experience.

The flow of the album benefits from its varied pacing. “The Cannibal” and “Seeking Revenge” accelerate the pulse, while songs like “Inside My Head” and “For The Expelled Ones” sit in a slower, more ominous pocket. “The Traders Of Anathema” delivers one of the more biting tones, and the song titles themselves reveal the dichotomy at play: internal torment and external condemnation.

Musically, “Children Of Eve” leans more toward structured aggression than exploration. It doesn’t experiment wildly or introduce unexpected textures. Instead, it locks into its theme and builds momentum through consistency, atmosphere, and thematic clarity. Despite this rigidity, it never becomes stagnant. The sequencing of the tracks maintains interest, and subtle shifts in phrasing, arrangement, and vocal layering provide enough movement to carry the listener through its 43-minute runtime.

The closing track, “Christian Svengali,” serves as a fitting end—not a dramatic peak, but a final incision in the album’s overarching critique. It reinforces the message with a balanced mix of blasting and brooding, punctuating the themes that have built up without falling into overstatement.

“Children Of Eve” is not concerned with stylistic reinvention. It is deliberate, forceful, and grounded in its identity. The sound is unified and substantial, both musically and ideologically. Nightfall does not stretch beyond their established language but instead refines their dialect into something more concise and purposeful. The production, performance, and lyricism align clearly, and the album carries emotional weight without dramatic excess. It stands as one of the band’s most focused and driven releases in years.

Score: 8.7