Nightvision
As The Lights Go Down [album]
“Hailed
as ‘incredibly talented’, the new
four-piece British hard rock band
Nightvision has released an irresistible,
tour de force debut album: As The Lights
Go Down...”
BRITISH, AS THEY SAY, IS BEST. And if you want the best of British music
you should also watch out for the young, up-and-coming artistes known collectively
as Nightvision who definitely deserve to be noticed.
This hard rock band comes from Lincolnshire and has now released a very creditable
album, As The Lights Go Down — packed with "exuberant, crisp,
crunching guitar riffs, soaring, wide ranging vocals, thunderous melodic bass
lines and powerhouse engine room drumming".
A very notable sound from four excellent young musicians who have embraced influences
from their (metal and hard rock) past, injected tons of energy and enthusiasm
and created their own distinctive brand of high-energy hard rock music in the
process.
The quality album As The Lights Go Down benefits greatly from the terrific
gravelly voice of Dave McKee, and Nightvision simply buzzes with fun and freedom.
We loved the old-style rock-infused Sick And Tired; Something Better
(is there?!) which is a lovely evocative number; and Love Ain't Cheap,
which is a beautiful, melodic track. Sentenced To The Gallows has a treatment
that defies its title, almost sounding too cheerful! Demons is rousing
with a great musical pulse and Promiscuity is deliciously naughty…
Having spent much of April out on the road, with gigs up North in Manchester,
Lincoln and York before dipping down to Nottingham and London, Nightvision has
been able to air the mouth-watering ingredients of their wonderfully 'right
on' debut album As The Lights Go Down that takes full advantage of the
creative sparks that fly between these guys as soon as they get together.
2003 was the foundation year for this home-based 'tight, eight-legged hard rocking
groove machine' that is Nightvision, when twenty-three-year-old guitarist Neil
(Bolda) Wallis and drummer Daryl Hocking (also 23) first got together to play
music, bonded by a shared love of Iron Maiden, Queen, Metallica, Guns 'n' Roses,
etc.
Having watched the first line-up of Nightvision playing for 18 months, Daryl's
19-year-old brother Dean was persuaded to join the band in 2005 when the previous
bass player quit. "As me and Daryl didn't always see eye to eye, it just didn't
seem a sane thing to do, but after much discussion, Bolda and Darryl asked me
to join and make it my main priority, so I accepted the offer," says Dean.
As history has shown, the dynamic created by two brothers in a band can go one
of two ways — either disastrously or compatibly. Happily, it turned
out the brothers thrived creatively and there was just one thing missing with
Nightvision: a talented vocalist and front man.
At the beginning of 2006, the final jigsaw piece was in place. Extrovert, energetic
vocalist Dave McKee walked into the group's audition room, radiating all the
self-confidence of a natural-born front man.
Twenty-four-year-old Dave had cut his teeth on stage as a professional actor
and guitarist in a national professional touring theatre company and was keen
to indulge his love of the heavier side of life and music. His vocal style,
which "ranges from extreme extended highs associated with power metal 80's bands
to a growl that would give James Hetfield a run for his money" was an ideal
musical match. Dave oozes personality and basks in the limelight: "I love gigging
— any kind of performance really, any excuse for me to be playing
on stage to an audience!"
The perfect find — especially as the four musicians gelled instantly
and quickly assumed an enviable group consciousness, honing down their craft
headlining local pub gigs and supporting the likes of Diamond Head, Fozzy, New
Generation Superstars, Sweet Seduction, Kid Ego, From Almost The End, The Imperial
Vipers, Patchwork Grace, Disarm and many more.
At the end of 2008, the band signed to Rocksector Records and recorded As
The Lights Go Down in Axis Studios in Doncaster with producer Matt Ellis
— the album was released on 6 April (2009). As the publicity machine
says: "Turn the volume up to 11 As The Lights Go Down and immerse yourself in
this truly excellent debut album…"
• Nightvision's As The Lights Go Down is
out now on Rocksector Records (distributed by Plastic Head).
As The Lights Go Down Tracklisting
1 After Dark | 2 Sick And Tired | 3 Something Better |
4 Mine, All Mine | 5 Love Ain't Cheap | 6 Sentenced To The
Gallows | 7 Nightmare | 8 Enough Of You | 9 Demons
| 10 King For A Day | 11 Carnival | 12 Promiscuity.
"The quality album As The Lights Go Down benefits greatly from the terrific
gravelly voice of Dave McKee, and Nightvision simply buzzes with fun and freedom"
— Maggie Woods, MotorBar
