Night Resident – Darkness Is My Home
Release Date: 21st May 2021
Label: Self Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Psychedelic Doom, Gothic Rock.
FFO: Ghost, Blue Oyster Cult, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats.
Review By: Paul Cairney
Last week, the Bossman asked, ‘Do you like Ghost?’. ‘Not really’ I replied, ‘but I’ve not really listened to them properly’. The upshot of this conversation was that Darkness is my Home, the 2nd album by Greek trio Night Resident, was fired into my inbox for review.
Night Resident have been likened to Ghost, indeed the press bio given with the album alludes to this, however, notwithstanding my ambivalence and rudimentary knowledge of Ghost, I would say any comparisons are fleeting. This is a good thing, as I would much rather listen to the 9 tracks on offer on Darkness is my Home than have to listen to any Ghost album again.
Anyway, enough about other bands on Night Residents’ review. Darkness is my Home is a slightly confusing album. Slightly doomy, without ever becoming a full-on doom album, it is dominated by addictive riffs, old-school psychedelic vocals and songs that are utterly inoffensive. In that respect, it is a perfect album to have on in the background when you are pottering about.
One of the repetitive issues spattered throughout the album is the clumsiness of the lyrical style. This is perhaps unfair, after all, I can’t speak a word of Greek, and Night Resident are, admirably, singing in a 2nd language. The lyrics often sound like they are singing from a book, or a diary, which detracts from the rest of the songs. Everything is there if they can improve on the lyrical content and delivery.
That said, Black Witch does feature one of my favourite lyrics of the year so far, ‘You’re going to burn in Hell’ is a lyric so out of sync with the rest of the song, sung in such a sweet manner, it is quite amusing. It is one of the better songs on the album though and is worth a few minutes of your time.
Alas, Night Resident have, unfortunately, delivered an album that is inoffensive. It doesn’t do enough to get the blood racing, but it is by no means a disaster of an album. It is perfectly listenable, but also perfectly forgettable. There will be far worse albums released this year that will elicit a reaction, albeit an angry or annoyed reaction.
Darkness is my Home is the epitome of a ‘Meh’ album. It’s still better than anything by Ghost though.
(2.5 / 5)
