Search - Nuclear Blast Allstars :: Nuclear Blast 20th Anniversary: Into the Light

Myra S. (ignolopi) from SALT LAKE CTY, UT
Reviewed on 9/17/2010...

I found this CD a good sampler of some interesting Metal music. The only artist I had heard before was Tarja (previously of Nightwish, she has great symphonic metal music). The style on this CD is mostly just Metal, not symphonic as much, but with a limit on the hard metal growling stuff (which I don't like). I like the variety, the wide range of artists; it's a good way to test out multiple artists and find more metal music you like.

Great idea with some good stuff but...

stagecrewlizzy | Wheaton, IL | 07/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"as what would be expected this is definitely a mixed bag. Not trying to say this is not worth it but some tracks definitely are better than others. The standouts I would say would be the Hansi Kursch one and the final track with the woman from Nightwish. I think part of the problem is that all the songs are virtually written by the same person and some of the talents on here are not involved at all except for singing the songs. I think if there was more collaboration, there would be better songs. Another thing is it says all-stars and it does have a lot of great performers but it is definitely geared for the power metal/gothic crowd, which is weird because nuclear blast has more variety. Another thing I thought would've been a good idea would be if not just the singers but that the other musicians were different on each track too which would really help mix the collaboration up. I think putting a singer in with a different guitarist, bassist and drummer from all different bands would be a cool idea.



With this CD there also is an additional disc with some favorites and some unreleased track. This also is a mixed bag. There are some good stuff on here as well but very inconsistent. I think if they were going to add another disc they should've kept it strictly to a "best of nuclear blast" sort of deal or have the entire cd unreleased material. Instead, this second CD just seems rushed.



If you like many of the singers from power/gothic metal bands I definitely recomend picking this up. I also recommend this to people who like hearing a variety of metal because you do get that. I just hope the next time they do this, they put more variety musically and mix up more of the musicians instead of just the singers."

3.5 stars - a cool idea that could have been better executed

Justin Gaines | Northern Virginia | 05/18/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The counterpart to the Out of the Dark album, Into the Light was a project put together by Rage/Mind Odyssey guitarist Victor Smolski to help celebrate Nuclear Blast's 20th anniversary. Where Out of the Dark focused on the label's death and black metal side, Into the Light celebrates Nuclear Blast's extremely strong stable of progressive, power and traditional metal artists. A different vocalist performs on each of the 10 songs on the album, including Tobias Sammet (Edguy), Peavy Wagner (Rage), Tony Kakko (Sonata Arctica), Mats Leven (Therion), Marcel Schirmer (Destruction), Hansi Kursch (Blind Guardian), Andi Deris (Helloween), Odlief Stensland (Communic), Marco Heitala (Nightwish) and Tarja Turunen (ex-Nightwish).



Smolski wrote and played guitar on the entire album, and his fellow Rage member Peavy Wagner wrote most of the lyrics, so Into the Light is pretty much a proggy Rage album with a bunch of different singers. The various vocalists certainly put their stamp on these songs, but you could switch the singers around at random and the songs probably wouldn't feel much different. The highlights of the album are the performances by Mats Leven, Hansi Kursch, Andi Deris and or course Tarja, but I don't think anyone turned in a weak vocal performance.



Into the Light is an interesting concept, and one that should prove interesting to fans of the various vocalists who contributed. I think it would have been more memorable if the singers were allowed to write their own lyrics, but I understand why that wasn't possible. Still, that might have been the touch that moved Into the Light from "good" to "great".



NOTE: Into the Light comes with a bonus disc featuring a mix of rarities and singles from (then) current Nuclear Blast artists, including Hammerfall, Helloween, Gotthard, After Forever, Ride the Sky, Thunderstone, Threshold, Amorphis, Candlemass and Sirenia. It would have made more sense if the second disc had album tracks from the bands that each vocalist on the main CD sing for, but this is still a pretty cool addition, even if I already had most of these songs from the regular albums."