NIGHTTIME BIRDS

Taking on more melodic and alternative rock influences, Nighttime Birds is otherwise a repeat of the approach of Mandylion - combining Anneke van Giersbergen's All About Eve-ish vocals with doomy gothic metal riffs. It's a pleasant listen once again, and some compositions - like Kevin's Telescope - are genuinely haunting, though there are points where it feels to me a bit too much like a retread of its more successful predecessor. On the whole, I'd say if you loved Mandylion you will most likely enjoy this one, but at the same time I do feel glad the band took things in a more experimental direction subsequent to this because one more album in the exact same style as this one would have been too much.