NIGHT RESIDENT'S 2021 release "Darkness is My Home" is a guitar-driven jam loaded with doomy undertones and a hint of 80s metal influence. Lyrically and vocally I'm not particularly impressed with this, but musically it's an absolute jam. The guitar and drum work is phenomenal and made me want to keep listening even when I wasn't really feeling the lyrics or felt the vocals were lacking. And I don't mean to say anyone is a bad singer because it's not bad. I just felt at times they felt flat and monotonous, with not a lot of emotion or inflection. But the instruments make up for a lot of this. I was drawn to the instrumentation from the first song.

The title track "Darkness is My Home" starts off heaviest of all the tracks with a more pure doom feel. The vocal tone especially makes this song overflow with doom and gloom, which is how the band describes their particular brand of metal. "There is no heaven, nor is there hell/eternal blackness/don't you forget" - if that isn't a deep dark depressing lyric, I don't know what one would be. "Stardust" feels weirdly energetic and upbeat musically compared to most of this album, however, the lyrics remain as melancholic as ever. I'm not sure if I can appreciate the dichotomy here. However, the guitar solo in this song is impressive and continues to prove their musical talent, especially that of guitarist Costas Papaspyrou.

"Black Witch" also has a bit of a heavier sound and I really enjoy the melody in this chorus. There are some great riffs and drums too. I get some ALICE IN CHAINS vibes during the verses of this song, but the chorus changes that sound up. It's quite a catchy chorus, but also quite dark: "After all, you're gonna burn in hell." Ouch. And we get yet another killer guitar solo from this track. "In the Mountains of Sorrow" is my favorite song on the album and has the coolest riffs with some heavy hitting drum work. I think the riff in this one is so catchy and it just makes me love the song. The lengthy instrumental part in it right before the three minute mark shows so much of their talent.

Overall, I would have liked lyrics that felt a little more poetic and singing that contained more range and emotion, but I can't deny the musical ability of NIGHT RESIDENT, and although they're not quite my cup of tea, it's definitely not a bad album.