Afterlife

Life can be pretty damn unjust at times... In 1995 Nocturnal Rites´ debut album, In A Time Of Blood And Fire, was released through Dark Age Music and highly acclaimed by critics, but this piece of vintage heavy metal only became popular amongst the selective insiders. Therefore Hammerfall were erroneously celebrated as founders of the second wave of melodic speed metal when the marketing machinery started pushing them in 1997. After finding a new home with Century Media Records, Nocturnal Rites' second album Tales Of Mystery And Imagination not only gained them mass approval, but also negative feedback claiming that they jumped on the bandwagon and just imitated this sound - even though they were already playing it for more than six years. That's what you call real bad luck!