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Todd Burdette is certainly not one to sit idle. The American guitarist, best known for his work in bands like Tragedy and His Hero Is Gone, alongside drummer Tim Call (Mournful Congregation, Sempiternal Dusk among others), has given life to this project called Nightfell, a musical entity active since 2012 with already three albums to its credit, the latest being "A Sanity Deranged," released in September 2019, four years after the previous "Darkness Evermore" from 2015.
After years spent in groups dedicated to the most violent and extreme hardcore/crust, Burdette, with this (relatively) new musical entity, seems to have decided to explore decidedly distant sound territories. Indeed, with "A Sanity Deranged" (as with previous chapters signed Nightfell), one enters the darkest and most desolate recesses of death-doom, with decidedly slower and heavier rhythms and an oppressive and anguishing wall of guitar. If you expect to find incendiary material like in "Vengeance" (Tragedy) or "Monuments to Thieves" (His Hero Is Gone), you might be a little disappointed: things change here, and it won’t take long for you to realize it.
The opening track "No Life Leaves Here" is a programmatic manifesto of the album: after about a minute of pure atmosphere, sulfurous and sinister guitar riffs explode, supported by a rhythm section as measured as never before. Over everything stands Todd Burdette's cavernous growl, which fits perfectly into the proposed sound mix. The first musical references that come to mind are those of kindred realities like the Finnish Krypts or Hooded Menace, although our own, far from being a carbon copy, also insert melodic and atmospheric openings that make the overall atmosphere even more decadent. This happens, to a greater extent, with the subsequent "(As Now) We Must Succumb," a more intricate and longer track than the opener that allows itself, in the finale, a rhythmic crescendo that increases the tension until the end of the song.
"To the Flame" and "The Swallowing of Flies," placed midway through the album, are probably the tracks where the doom component of the Portland group prevails; in particular, the former, where the cadenced drum beats support ghostly choruses that could be likened, for emotional intensity, to the Germans The Ruins of Beverast. The concluding title track, "Sanity Deranged," perfectly closes the work, proving to be a perfect summary of all Nightfell's musical characteristics: slow and sulfurous at the beginning, it grows in intensity until it transforms into a death metal ride with an old-school flavor until the conclusion.
The rather short length of the album (35 minutes spread over 6 total tracks) also makes for a very smooth listening experience, allowing them to concentrate a handful of ideas in a relatively contained time frame, thus avoiding lengthiness or ramblings that would add nothing more to the overall value of the work. The production is excellent as well, powerful and clear, capable of perfectly rendering the raw and visceral sound of the instrumental section.
In the end, "A Sanity Deranged" is a decidedly valid product, perhaps one of the best extreme works released in recent years. An album that, perhaps, deserved even more attention than it has actually received so far. Perhaps greater publicity would have benefited more, especially in a period like this where musical currents such as black and death are experiencing a sort of second youth.
The 20 Buck Spin, a very active American label in niche music sectors, has hit the mark again.
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