Never let it be said that
Nightmare is not a resilient band. Formed in 1979, the French metal combo faced its share of challenges in the 1980s (including label problems and lineup changes) before breaking up in the latter part of that decade only to reunite in 1999. It was a surprising, unexpected reunion -- European headbangers who were familiar with their 1980s recordings had assumed that
Nightmare was gone for good -- and the band was still plugging away in the late 2000s. Recorded in Sweden in 2007 -- which was 28 years after
Nightmare's formation --
Genetic Disorder finds them working with Swedish producer
Fredrik Nordström. In European metal circles,
Nordström has a very good reputation; he has worked with
Opeth,
Dimmu Borgir,
At the Gates,
In Flames and many other well known bands.
Nordström is known for producing a lot of death metal and black metal, but he doesn't produce extreme metal exclusively, and on
Genetic Disorder,
Nightmare's 2007 lineup (Jo Amore on lead vocals, Alex Hilbert and Franck Milleliri on guitar, Yves Campion on bass and
David Amore on drums) offers old-school power metal that is melodic yet intense and hard-driving.
Iron Maiden and
Helloween are strong influences, and Amore usually favors a gruff vocal style along the lines of
Ronnie James Dio and
Maiden's
Bruce Dickinson; occasionally, Amore gets into some high-pitched wailing of the
Rob Halford/
King Diamond variety, although he usually prefers gruffness over the high notes. While
Genetic Disorder falls short of mind-blowing, all of the songs are decent -- and
Nightmare's resilience is certainly admirable. ~ Alex Henderson