Night Hides the World Spellcaster 2016 Prosthetic Records Spellcaster are a Heavy Metal band from the USA formed in 2009. The type of Metal that Spellcaster play can best be described as traditional Heavy Metal with themes revolving around death and dying, the night time world and its connotations and of course, with a name like Spellcaster, there is obviously that element of fantasy, role-playing style mythology with links to such things as Game of Thrones. Night Hides the World is the 3rd studio album by Spellcaster and the follow up to 2014’s eponymous album. Night Hides the World does not stray far from the template laid down from Spellcaster and the first release, 2011’s Under the Spell. Spellcaster is composed of vocalist Tyler Loney, the guitars of Cory Boyd and Bryce Van Hoosen and the rhythm section of bassist Gabriel Franco and drummer Colin Vranizan. The production of Night Hides the World has been done by decent and reliable producer Zack Ohren along with Spellcaster themselves. Ohren has worked with many up and coming Metal bands and always hits the mark. His work on Night Hides the World is as always brilliant, Ohren helping to guide Spellcaster as to exactly the sound that they are after. Night Hides the World begins with the rolling snare drum of the exceptionally catchy Aria. Aria shows the strong and soaring vocals of Loney which is more than prolific throughout the album, but in particular, Loney’s voice in the chorus to Aria can draw parallels to James-Paul Luna of White Wizzard and Holy Grail fame. Each song on Night Hides the World is well crafted and is the perfect example of a band in their prime. At times the lyrics can be a little far too much focused upon the night and in particular, the moon. However, this isn’t enough to drag down Night Hides the World and although the album is far from anywhere near being a concept album, the moon does seem to be the running theme throughout. That aside, the title track is fantastic as well as the final track, Prophecy, which is a tour de force with Van Hoosen and Boyd trading off guitar solos in an excellent duel, reminiscent of Dave Murray and Adrian Smith from early Iron Maiden. Game of Thrones has been a new recent source of material for a lot of Heavy Metal bands and Spellcaster are no different with The Moon Doors, a place where executions are carried out by throwing the accused to their death through the Moon Door as they plummet from a great height. One of the best tracks on Night Hides the World is the fourth track, Betrayal. A song which begins is a looping bass pattern, almost programmed in a way that serves as the backbone for the song, but from that opening instant, that is the hook in Betrayal and it hypnotically pull you in as the song builds up and up as a track of near 7 minutes, erodes away in what feels like 2:50. Night Hides the World is a great album by a band that just keeps getting better and better. Night Hides the World is a true dark horse in the race for a top 10 slot come the year end and that only serves as a testament to the work and skill that Spellcaster have put into making this album. A very good album indeed. 8/10 Adam Night Hides the World (Spellcaster)
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