Nightfall - "Diva Futura" [1999]

Artist: Nightfall

Title: Diva Futura

Genre: Gothic Metal, Melodic Death Metal

Country: Greece
Year: 1999

Track List:

1. Master, Faster, Sweet Desaster
2. Sin
3. The Sheer Misfit
4. Diva
5. Licked One's Iced Lips
6. Picture Me
7. Some Deaths Take for Ever
8. Lowve
9. Ceaseless
10. My Traitor's Kiss
11. Pleasure 

This album has a lot in common with "Revolution DNA" by Septic Flesh - both albums were released in Greece in 1999, they have somewhat similar cover art and lyrics in somewhat clumsy English (but probably not much clumsier than my own English :3), and both stand out as experimental works in the discographies of their respective bands. That said, they're significantly different in terms of sound (strangely enough, "Diva Futura" sounds much like the works of Finnish gothic metal bands like Sentenced from the same time). I've heard the track "Diva" (which instantly became one of my favourite songs) for the first time when I was in my teens, definitely before I've bought the "Revolution DNA" cassette, but I had the chance to hear the whole album only much later.

It still remains my favourite album by Nightfall along with the previous one, "Lesbian Show" (and yes, they were ridiculed by critics for releasing an album with such a name - but after all, they're from Greece, and it's just their culture, going back to the Sappho's times...) - even if they're considered the weakest ones in the Nightfall discography by some fans. Most tracks on the first half of the album are almost as good as "Diva", while the second part is a bit weaker. The vocals can be annoying at times, but otherwise it's a great album with many catchy songs which I'd recommend to anyone who loves Greek metal scene (which has a lot of undoubtedly unique bands) and aren't a diehard fan of "true metal":