The San Francisco Bay Area has a history steeped in forward-thinking, technically dazzling metal, and NITE carries that torch with pride. Founded in 2018, their blackened heavy metal brand barrels towards the peril of an unknown future, while keeping one eye on the days when blistering leads once ruled the land. Guitarists Van Labrakis (Satan’s Wrath, Mencea) and Scott Hoffman (Dawnbringer, High Spirits) let loose galloping riffs and harmonies that evoke the classic sounds of the N.W.O.B.H.M., with Labrakis’ grizzled voice driving their dark, melodic metal into the modern era.

With Avinash Mittur (Wild Hunt) replacing founding bassist Bryan Coons in early 2021, he and drummer Patrick Crawford (Serpents of Dawn, Older Sun) make up a rhythm section that’s fierce yet breathlessly precise: a freewheel pounding reminiscent of the early days of heavy metal, with a Rickenbacker-powered roar fueling the low end. NITE’s debut full-length Darkness Silence Mirror Flame, released in March 2020 by Creator-Destructor Records, earned widespread praise. It showcased their fist-raising classic heavy metal that nearly every fan of the genre once fell in love with, but with a twisted and shadowy edge that the titans of old could never imagine. NITE is the flame of the past illuminating the darkness of tomorrow.

01. Acheron (04:44)
02. Kronian Moon (03:59)
03. Last Scorpion (04:40)
04. Liber ex Doctrina (04:44)
05. Heliopolis (04:32)
06. Edge of the Night (05:04)
07. Thorns (04:56)
08. The Trident (04:23)