There are practically two Lightmares: the one from Certain Death which was very thrashy and dark and ‘The Fool’ approach which goes in the league of power metal explosion bands from the second half of the 90’s, very melodic, very fantastic, with ultra high pitched singers and overuse of keyboards.
The first song ‘Rebellion’ is all but no rebellious except for the lyrical content. The music goes very much in the same vein as Hammerfall. The guitar riffing sound very alike ‘The Glory to The Brave’ but much much more melodic and ‘cheesy’.The vocal sense of melody is actually quite good. Timon’s voice sounds in the vein of Olaf Hayer although he does not have the power or vocal range Olaf does. Very high background choruses give more melodic vibe to the entire album. The production is not as Seventh Avenue’s since there is a prominence in the bass drums and the keyboards. The guitars are kind of backgrounded. The solos are quite good (not slashing thou).
What gives this album an extraordinary feeling is the juxtaposing of classical music pieces on it. Unlike Rhapsody who creates their own classical music these guys use well known classical music intervals to give a more polished harmonic tune. If you listen to ‘Terrion’ you will absolutely notice this with the intro. The music sometimes gets boring due to the repetitive drum patterns but they vary the type of songs within the album so you do not know what to expect after one song ends. The highlights include ‘The One; which lengths at 1:30 or so and it is actually the fastest track. Very cool melody and scales. ‘My Slowly Dying’ is a ballad and I must say the melody is awesome. The imprinted the musical feeling of Amorphis in TFTL. This was masterfully performed. ‘Tones’ is the instrumental and it sounds A LOT like the music from ‘The Green Bee‘. Trust me. Again in the fast parts the drums overshadow the guitars. The bass is almost non existant. Although they are related in many ways to Seventh Avenue their instrumental is obviously faster but this one has a cooler flow. It is very classical music influenced and spiced. The title track begins very doomy and it actually has a very dark feeling. It is cool but not killer and kind of forgettable. ‘Call of solitude’ is cool in the tempo changes progressive-alike and the screaming which is very cool. Most of it this is a slow tempo song which turns to fast parts very methodically and precise. ‘Please survive’ is the closer and it is a piano only song. It is very gloomy and sad and the lyrics perfectly fit the music.
Summary: this is an enjoyable recording if you are a heavy/power metal fan but if you are looking for kick ass power ala Gamma Ray then this is not for you. Very cool melodies in here, very nice classical music interludes but still they could’ve improved a lot in the guitar tone. For Christian standards and underrated recordings from the end of the 90’s this is still a very solid effort.