Nightly Gale – Illusion of Evil (Foreshadow Productions)
By Chris Barnes | June 26, 2006

How many Polacks does it take to make Doom Metal? Sorry, no punchline. I tried to make one up and it sounded like third rate Don Rickles. I know when not to be a dick. Most of the time.

Sławomir Pyrzyk and Jarosław Toifl, aside from having impossible-too-pronounce names (for us ugly Americans, anyway) and looking somewhat like hitmen for the Polish mafia, are the two masterminds currently behind Poland-bred doom band Nightly Gale. To be honest, on first listen, I had no idea what to make of the band. Sounding similar to the early work of the now-defunct seminal avant doomers Unholy, Nightly Gale take oppressive atmospherics, bleak-but-progressive guitar work and odd bits of programming to put a unique spin on the often tried-n-true take on Doom Metal. The songs are epic in length and range from majestic to downright razor-to-wrist depressing. The vocals are a strong point for the band, emoting world-weary pain, unencumbered rage and bleak blasphemy often in the same song. The arrangements are often … weird… and almost always have something hypnotic. However, I’ll take points off because the drums have that huge bad AOR ‘80’s sound, which has the unusual side-effect of making the arrangements sound even stranger and more eclectic. I mean, how often would you utter AOR 80’s drum sounds and oddly progressive cult doom metal from Poland in one breath?

These guys definitely are in to creating a unique, weird and surprising aural world all their own. There's no doubt they march to the beat of their own drummer, and something tells me that drummer has been experimenting with LSD, benzos and cough syrup. To wrap it up, weird, bleak, oppressive and progressive. A lunatic thinking man’s brand of Doom.