“Sweet Vengeance” was released on June 30, 2003 via Century Media and was Nightrage’s first album, three years after Marios Iliopoulos and Gus G. put the band together in Thessaloniki.
Country: Greece / Sweden
Genre: Melodic death metal
For fans of: At the Gates, The Haunted, Dark Tranquillity
On vocals was Tomas Lindberg of At the Gates, on drums Per Möller Jensen of The Haunted and on bass Brice Leclercq, while Tom S. Englund of Evergrey added clean vocals to some tracks. The production was shared by Fredrik Nordström and Patrik Sten.
The sound keeps the melodic death metal of Sweden, with more guitar lines and solos than usual. “The Tremor” opens the album, “The Glow of the Setting Sun” and “Ethereal” deliver the most recognisable melodies, and “The Howls of the Wolves” closes it. The first video was “Gloomy Daydreams”.
Our take
More than twenty years on, “Sweet Vengeance” remains the band’s reference point: it has both the melody and the edge that Nightrage chased throughout their career, and the fact that it still sounds fresh shows how well put together it was from the start.
See also
In Flames – Clayman · Dark Tranquillity – The Gallery · Nightrage – Tribute · Nightrage – Descent into Chaos · Nightrage – Tribute · Nightrage – Descent into Chaos
