Iron Oxide Records - 2021
7.5/10
Upon discovery, Konquest didn’t really do a whole lot for me. It struck me as a well-executed brand of Iron Maiden and NWOBHM worship that was fine for a listen or so, but lacked staying power. Time And Tyranny then hit the scene, changing all of that, by capitalizing on their own identity and injecting loads of uplifting energy alongside the beefy riffs. This called for a revisit of the debut, The Night Goes On.
Structurally, this is almost identical, showing where the groundwork was laid. Opening on an instrumental, sticking one somewhere in the middle, and closing off with a longer tune becomes the game. Packing everything into eight songs of heavy metal establishes their classic brevity trick. Production wise, however, things feel a bit dry, which I would expect from a debut of an up-and-coming band anyway. Because of this the drums do feel a bit louder at times, jumping above the mix in heavier parts, which made a nice impact, intentional or not. See “Keep Me Alive”; its descent into the first verse is solid.
But I would be lying if I said The Night Goes On stuck much harder upon revisiting. Being stripped of anything original, its Iron Maiden influence is too on-the-nose. Again, being a great band to model off of, the whole ride is pleasant, but memorable songwriting feels far less obvious. Convincing leads take a strong priority, trading off with vocals that come through nicely. I also love that despite the aforementioned atmosphere, the bass is very present, shown in the gallops of “Too Late.” “Helding Back The Tears” also gives a taste of what’s to come with the emotion, which I greatly appreciate. But alternatively, the “The Vision” closer was a bit underwhelming, working as a repetitive song rather than several phases consolidated into one. It also doesn’t help that the solo-bridge is nearly identical to Maiden’s “Hallowed Be Thy Name.”
Perhaps I’m being nit picky with my criticisms, or maybe I’m subconsciously forcing this to measure up to their sophomore full-length. There is plenty to dig up, you just have to look a lot harder. It becomes tough to overlook certain aspects, but at the end of the day I would call this plenty serviceable.
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