Nightfall

by Eduardo Rivadavia One of Greece's longest-running underground forces in extreme metal, Nightfall is primarily driven by vocalist/bassist/keyboard player Efthimis Karadimas, who first founded the group in his native Athens at the dawn of '90s. Released in 1992, the group's Parade into Centuries debut was steeped in the then-popular doom/death metal style, and figured among the first international releases of note from any Greek metal band. It also featured guitarists Mike Galiatsos and Christian Adamou and drummer Costas Savidis, all of whom returned a year later to work on the more experimental Macabre Sunsets L.P. Nightfall then embarked on the first of many increasingly more successful European tours, adding George Aspiotis (samples/keyboards) to the mix while issuing continually high-quality releases like the Eons Aura EP, their third album, Athenian Echoes (both 1995) and 1997's provocative Lesbian Show. As acclaimed as it was controversial, this album paved the way for 1999's more gothic metal-oriented Electronegative EP and the Diva Futura LP, which featured new drummer Mark Cross. Except for a 2001 performance at the Wacken Festival, nothing else was heard from Nightfall until 2003, when Karadimas and a new lineup consisting of guitarists George Bokos and Bob Gatsionis, and drummer George Kollias finally reappeared with the I Am Jesus opus.