Night Prowler - Bleeding Me Dry ★★★★☆
- Thrash Minister
- Apr 9
- 3 min read
HEAVY METAL / THRASH METAL | MARCH 2025 BANDCAMP | METAL-ARCHIVES FOR FANS OF: KING DIAMOND
THRASH-O-METER
★★★★★★★★☆☆ SONGWRITING
★★★★★★★☆☆☆ THEMES
★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆ LONGEVITY
★★★★☆☆☆☆☆☆ PRODUCTION
★★★★★★☆☆☆☆ THRASHABILITY
SCORE:
★★★★☆ BADASS SH!T
Just when I was about to be free of March, it comes and pulls me right ba—I mean, I find something to get properly excited about!
From the first notes, it’s unmistakable: Night Prowler isn’t just inspired by their influences, it rolls on them. With a sound that nods proudly to the past and frothing forward vigorously, they channel their aspirations into something that’s not just reverent, but downright entertaining. This isn’t imitation - it’s a goddamn kick-ass celebration.
When you know, you know
There's not much science behind this strange kind of truth. As the intro, 'Forward Unto Death', soars to its final notes you're rather amped to get your head eaten by the 'Graveyard Queen' - and she does. The source of the single biggest inspiration of Night Prowler becomes plain as a day when the vocals kick in: all hail King Diamond!
You gotta take a few steps back if you come into this expecting Thrash Metal - while the album confidently runs the gamut of the genre trademarks from breakneck speed to chugging, its roots are deep in Heavy Metal - but you'll be thrashin' fo' shizzle. Songs like 'Darkness Lurks' epitomes the band brilliantly right from the get-go: it's melodic, boisterous and shares more than few atmospheric feels with one of the modern greats: Ghost.
'Help Me' and 'Bleeding Me Dry' capture the grotesque theatricality of King’s twisted tales, delivering not only a narrative punch but some brilliantly unhinged guitar shenanigans to match. It’s in these kinds of eerie, slow-burning moments that the album’s supernatural qualities become spellbinding.
Mood over muscle
The album leans into a softer, more atmospheric sound that carries the moody textures which are a nice throwback into the 90s - and I'm not talking about what the bajillion Hair Metal bands were doing specifically, but sh!t that Judas Priest, Helloween, Heir Apparent and even Iron Maiden had going on.
The era was defined by guitars that have a delicate, almost fragile quality to them: feisty yet tender, lacking the bite as the teeth came out a bit later. Similarly, the drums here don't quite deliver the dynamic punch for the modern era either - but that's by design. So! Know what you're getting into and don't come back crying. While on the subject of sound, this is DIY from top to bottom, but it does achieve the right kind of twang for you to not to get tangled over nonessential sh!t - and it really does sound like the era it wants to exist in!
Setting aside my deep love for King Diamond and this particular era of Metal, the band's approach can occasionally feel excessive, veering into a level of ruckus that borders on parody. These tracks are bursting at the seams with wild twists and turns; it’s a full-blown carnival of riffs, melodies, tempo shifts, and vocal acrobatics - when everything screams, its hard for anything to stand out.
It’s a goddamn blast when you’re locked in, but if your mind wanders for even a second, the layered madness might just catch you off guard. Its intense and whenever they're slowing down to give the songs room to breathe - you follow suit, hard. With everything cranked to eleven its easy to forget that a classic Metal album at its best is a journey in the (relatively) quiet valleys in order to let its peaks feel that much taller.
Badass sh!t
