Review by Vladimir on January 2, 2023.

Old Night from Croatia has been going strong with their mournful serenades for 7 years now, and they just keep spreading their tunes of sweet sorrows with each new release. The band dabbles in melodic doom metal with progressive songwriting, romantic and sorrowful lyrics that altogether craft a very bittersweet musical feel. Their third and latest full-length album Ghost Light, released on March 4th via Solitude Productions, marks the conclusion of their concept trilogy which began with their first album Pale Cold Irrelevance. Has this latest entry in the band's discography successfully concluded the trilogy?

This album has a very moody and depressing autumn-like atmosphere that manifests itself in its songwriting and bittersweet lyrics. The first 'Strange Lights On The Moor' sets up the mood with its slow and clean music with a light guitar solo, before deciding to hit you in the feels with the second track 'Sacred South', from then on you will be pushed into a world of dying trees where spirits of nature watch over you from the distance. Ghost Light certainly doesn't hold back to express any feelings of sorrow in its songs consisted of slow, melodic and progressive doom metal riffs with extra flavor of clean chords, beautiful melancholic guitar solos, good dose of heaviness and melodies on tracks 'Daughter Of Summer Dawning' and 'Sworn To Deviltry', and clean singing vocals with growl back vocals, which are not present on tracks 'Sweet Little Sorrows' and 'No Solace'. The last two aforementioned tracks have a more lightweight feel when it comes to their overall execution, with less musical heaviness in its riffs and solos, opting for a cleaner approach in both riffs and lyrics, that will give you time to recover before emotions continue to hit hard. On my first listening of Ghost Light, I said that this album would give later Opeth a run for their money, and I still stand by that statement after listening to it again, because I think that Opeth haven't been capable or successful in writing such powerful and meaningful songs for the past 10 years since their style shifted. To give credit where credit is due, what stands out on this album besides its songwriting is the quality sound production and the cover art by artist "All Things Rotten", who successfully translated the autumn ambient of Ghost Light.

Ghost Light to me doesn't possess any fatal flaw or lack of proper musical expression, it's nothing more than a good swing of emotions that doesn't disappoint from start to finish. The album is wonderful and melancholic at the same time, giving this concept a good ending and leaving an open door for a new story that will be told in their future releases. If you're into melodic doom metal with a romantic and melancholic vibe, I highly suggest you check out Old Night, especially their latest album Ghost Light that managed to captivate its true beauty with tracks 'Sacred South', 'Daughter Of Summer Dawning', 'Cognitive Dissonance' and 'Sworn To Deviltry'.

Rating: 8.6 out of 10