Aittala-American Nightmare

Self-Release/Independent
2016

Recorded at Incognito Studios in Raleigh, North Carolina, "American Nightmare" is the the latest release  from U.S. metal band Aittala. It serves as the long-awaited follow-up to 2014's "Effigy" and features ten new songs including the thrashed-up title track. Due out on December 6th in digital form and on CD, "American Nightmare" is the 4th full-length recording from the darkly-tinted Aittala and it finds band founder (and sole original member) Eric Aittala (guitar/lead vox) covering a lot of ground (genre-wise) as he is joined by drummer Gary "Zeus'" Smith and bass player Andrew Sullivan. The aforementioned "American Nightmare" starts things off on the right foot and from there you have progressive doom ("Unsung"), alternative dark metal ("Essence"), and a groove-laden heavy & hard rock number called "Brainwashed". The sorrowful  rock ballad "Forgot" shows up next and even though it slows things down a little it is sincere number that seems well-placed as the album's fifth song. Sounding deeply personally in natural, "Forgot" is a melancholy track that sounds as though it could have come straight from the early nineties (pre-grunge) hard rock scene. It is also one of the lighter tracks on "American Nightmare". Moving past "Forgot" we pick up some steam with the effective song "No Questions" (90's alternative hard rock meets a doom-influenced Helmet?) and then we have "Leave". A rock radio-worthy song that is a nice mash-up of modern hard rock and heavy rock(!), "Leave" is one of many stand-out tracks on this album and it eventually gives way to the classic rock-infused number, "Incognito". Along with "Forgot", "Incognito" is a good song that, at first spin, sounds somewhat out of place on a hard & heavy recording like this. Repeated listens disprove that initial observation, but it's still a good idea to know what you are heading into! Doom metal comes back into play on the hard rock cut "Pandora's Box" and then "Rise" finishing things off  just right thanks to it's (slick) combination of hard rock, classic heavy metal, and progressive dark metal. With lyrics and music by lead vocalist/guitarist Eric Aittala, "American Nightmare" is a great collection of songs that have that familiar Aittala sound and message, but with a renewed sense of urgency and, above all else, creativity! The album stacks up nicely alongside the group's previous album, "Effigy", and it shows just how far Eric has come as a musician and songwriter since first putting this band together way back in 1992. Well worth the two year wait, "American Nightmare" is A+  effort from this sadly-underrated metal band and it can be found online by clicking here.