Album Review: Nightfall – Children of Eve (Season of Mist)

Legendary Greek metallers, Nightfall, return with their 11th studio album titled Children of Eve, due out on the 2nd of May 2025 via Season of Mist.

Since their formation in 1991, Nightfall have remained a beacon for Greek metal. The Athenians rose from the underground alongside Rotting Christ and Septicflesh, standing alongside those bands for more than three decades as the pioneering trinity of Greek metal. Now returned from a recent hiatus and backed by monumental production and a powerful message, Children of Eve stands as their darkest creation yet. Fueled by anger, depression, their disdain for the dominance of the Eastern Orthodox Church and the continuing rise of “Holy Wars” across the globe, the band have things they need to get off their chest.

To amplify their message, Nightfall enhanced the entire production of Children of Eve . Funder and vocalist, Efthimis and drummer, Fotis took charge of the production with assistance from InnerWish guitarist Thimios Krikos. Meanwhile, Jacob Hansen – who worked with Volbeat, Amaranthe and The Black Dahlia Murder – handled the mixing and mastering. For the artwork, the band turned to Eliran Kantor, who’s renowned paintings have graced the covers of albums by Testament, Kreator and Helloween.

All of this adding up to create Nightfall’s most infectious collection of hooks to date as they weave their gothic melodies into blackened death metal.

Founder Efthimis Karadimas says:

“I love how this album came out. We’re excited to play these songs live. The sound is massive. The choruses are huge. And there’s a message that comes through. It’s an album about how we come through pain, how we live with pain, and how we die in pain”.

Nightfall is Efthimis Karadimas on vocals, Kostas Kyriakopoulos on guitars, Vasiliki Biza on bass and Fotis Benardo on drums.

Children of Eve brings us 10 tracks to get stuck into and the dark atmosphere captures you quickly with the opening spoken segment of the track I Hate. The spoken word gives way to a flurry of catchy drum blasts and blackened vocals. The riffs have a drawn out style and that, combining with the much faster drums creates a nice contrast. The vocals are powerful and booming, with backing adding a lighter, choral touch during the chorus. There is a sped up section with some really exciting lead guitarwork that is absolute fire in a song that is very hard and heavy but like Rotting Christ, manages to retain groove and catchiness.

Nightfall definitely operate in that area across the entirety of Children of Eve but with variety within it. The Cannibal, for example, manages to speed things up making it feel more destructive and aggressive yet through the use of lead guitars in particular, keeps itself accessible. The catchy melodies just pull the song back from the brink of brutality at the right time. Lurking then goes for a massive slab of grooving, catchy riffing. Adding some samples to generate atmosphere, dropping down into a chaotic section with intense drumming and vicious bass slams, then brining in the catchiness and guitars. Structurally, it’s different and exciting and packs a wicked chorus.

Inside My Head has an epic vibe to it, especially in it’s huge intro with booking vocals, elevating melody and atmosphere. The verses head down the groove route with infectious tapping drums before a chorus slows things down hitting us with booming bass lines and soaring lead guitars with slowed vocal roars. It is, on the face of it, extremely heavy and the tone on the riffs and vocals add so much darkness but Nightfall are clearly masters of control, perfectly treading the line between catchy and very heavy.

Seeking Revenge adds a little extra spice with the screaming female cleans in an mammoth intro full of power riffs and rolling drum blasts – it’s huge and so impressive. As good as that is, when it drops, oh man, this is brutal catchiness. Orbit Culture‘s Black Mountain levels of genius. Speedy but patterned vocals, wicked riffs and drums – what a track.

Children of Eve has absolutely flown by at the half way point and next up, For The Expelled Ones keeps the quality at the maximum with a deep and bassy slab of groove. While there are plenty of moments where the speed picks up and the drums rain fire, it’s the mammoth verses I adore most here. Powerful guitars, catchy drumming and drawn out vocals that reach right into your very being. The Traders Of Anathema goes for the jugular from the off with a ripping death metal track. Fiery drums and riffs, speedily delivered vocals – this is mosh pit destroying chaos. There is plenty of time for switches though so we do also get to transport into bass heavy catchiness with instrumental rhythm segments. Tat just allows you to catch your breath before the sky falls in again led by a furious solo.

With Outlandish Desire To Disobey isn’t the catchiest of song titles but delivers as a song bringing more variety with the use of female vocals in the intro then some nice harmonising between those cleans and the growls. It’s another track that delivers a lot of ideas with a slightly off kilter rhythm, excellent guitar melodies and the reappearance of the cleans occasionally to add a new layer. It’s very cool, and keeps you on your toes while continuing to keep Children of Eve feeling very original and fresh, track after track.

The penultimate track is called The Makhaira Of The Deceiver and no surprises for guessing that it’s another fine example of Nightfall balancing absolute darkness with clever flows and catchiness. I love the lead guitars that drive this song on – that higher tone melody alongside the dark riffs, thick bass, and gruff vocals works wonderfully. We get to a particularly dark section in the middle that sees the song stop, sounds of a baby crying then bring us back into black metal territory. The ideas keep flowing.

Children of Eve comes to a close with Christian Svengali. String drums, powerful vocals and hard hitting riffs lead us through the verses into a stunning and epic chorus. That chorus is unreal, dropping the pace, adding melody and just being really listenable and memorable. What I think might be piano, or keys, s in for it to add more depth and grandeur then transitions back into the heaviness of the verses are silky smooth. The instrumental section is a headbanger – the drums and quick picked riffs are fantastic. And as the song gently fades away, you are left with just the piano melody and an opportunity to reflect on the journey you have just been on.

So Children of Eve comes to a close and what an absolutely immense album it is. Nightfall have delivered an album of intensity and emotion that balances catchiness, feeling and brutality perfectly. I felt consistently engaged, and fully immersed from the first song to the last. There is no filler, no moments of weakness – this is a masterclass in heavy music bringing atmosphere, darkness, catchiness and creativity non stop across the whole of the release. Amazing stuff from Nightfall.

You can, and should pre-order or pre-save Children of Eve by following this link – Season of Mist.

Tracklist:
1. I Hate
2. The Cannibal
3. Lurking
4. Inside My Head
5. Seeking Revenge
6. For The Expelled Ones
7. The Traders Of Anathema
8. With Outlandish Desire To Disobey
9. The Makhaira Of The Deceiver
10. Christian Svengali

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