NIGHTINGALE - Retribution (2014) (2025)

"Retribution" is the 7th full-length studio album by Swedish progressive rock/metal act Nightingale. The album was released through InsideOut Music in November 2014 and is the successor to "White Darkness" from 2007. 7 years is a pretty long recording break, but the lineup who recorded the last album is still intact. Nightingale has now had a stable lineup since 2000. Dan Swan� (vocals, guitars, keyboards) has as usual been busy with other projects in the years between "White Darkness" and "Retribution". Among other things Witherscape, Demiurg, and his job as a producer.

The long break hasn�t affected the fact that "Retribution" sounds unmistakably like Nightingale. It�s not as such a continuation of the sound on "White Darkness (2007)" though, but more an album which includes a wide varity of the good elements from most of their past releases. The music is still semi-progressive rock/metal with elements from both 70s hard/progressive rock, 80s rock/heavy metal, and a strong dose of keyboards in the neo-progressive vein (Marillion, Pallas, IQ...etc.). The neo-progressive keyboards were actually toned down quite a bit on "White Darkness (2007)" in favor of a more hard rocking organ heavy sound, but they make a return on "Retribution", which is generally more neo-progressive oriented than 70s hard rock influenced. The latter influence is still occasionally strong on "Retribution" too though. Dan Swan� has also changed his vocal approach a bit on "Retribution" and generally sounds less raw and delivers more clean singing than he did on the predecessor.

As always the musicianship is on a high level. Swan� has a distinct sounding voice and a strong and convincing delivery and the rest of the guys in the band (which includes Dan�s older brother Dag Swan� on bass, guitars, and keyboards) also perform their parts with great skill. I especially noticed drummer Tom Bj�rn�s contributions this time around and found his performance quite enjoyable.

The material on the 10 track, 44:36 minutes long album is generally well written and both instantly catchy and memorable in the long run, with strong melodies, and great harmonies. For the most part it�s pretty straight forward vers/chorus structured, but the band often take excursions outside that safe formula to maintain the listener�s attention. And with great success I might add.

Upon conclusion "Retribution" is just the comeback album I had hoped it would be (after 7 years I think comeback is a valid word to use about the album). To my ears Nightingale was always strongest when playing neo-progressive oriented music rather than their more hard rock oriented ditto, and it�s great to hear them embrace that sound again. The album is packed in a clean, professional, and well sounding production too, which further helps the music shine. So all in all "Retribution" is another high quality release by Nightingale and a 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.