The Night Flight Orchestra - Lovers in The Rain

The Night Flight Orchestra is one of many bands that are engaged in the revitalization of 80’s style music. This is a fine thing, there was a lot of great rock and roll in the 80’s and a lot of heavy synth driven music that was enjoyable for the most part. Taking those elements and combining them with modern electric guitar progressive metal rifts results in a lot of great music. Remember Edguy’s “Space Police” album, that was freaking amazing, good times were had by all. Now imagine that concept being spread across a band’s entire discography, that is sort of what Night Flight Orchestra are like. This analogy works if you are coming from an Avantasia/Edguy perspective like me.

I have been aware of, and casually listening to The Night Flight Orchestra for years, but I have never been a big fan. It is not like I had a dislike for the band or anything they ever did, it was more that I never heard a song that jumped out at me and made me want to listen to them more. The only song of theirs I truly enjoyed was “Gemini” and as much as I love that song and video, that was not enough to capture my interest and make me a big fan.

A few years go by and I more, or less, forget about The Night Flight Orchestra, then whilst listening to all the new songs on Nuclear Blast’s youtube channel the new Night Flight Orchestra song comes up, the name of the band jogs my memory a little, and I struggle to remember them but I recall soon thereupon, and “Lovers in The Rain” plays and it is great.

Expecting great songs from Nuclear Blast is what I do, and I would agree that “Lovers in The Rain” is a great song, but it was unexpected. This is not what I normally consider metal, and it is a very different sound from what I typically hear on Nuclear Blast. Not being a pretensions twat that does not bother me, rather it made me marvel with curiosity. At last I wondered about The Night Flight Orchestra and what else they had to offer. Long story short, I still really like “Gemini,” but I also really like “Lovers in The Rain.”

“Lovers in The Rain” is structurally very straight forward; intro, two verses, chorus, two verses, chorus, bridge, final chorus, outro. While simple, this format has worked countless times in the music world historically and continues to work pleasingly so, and with good reason, that reoccurring pattern recognition works wonders on the human brain. We all enjoy it, even if pretensions music critics do not want to admit it. Quick and catchy and with no time to waste, the standard for capturing the attention of new listeners, and perfect for radio play, not that many people care about the radio anymore. It caught my ear, made me listen, and stuck with me as a mainstay on my playlist ever since.

One thing I have learned over time is that I have much greater chance of success of turning people onto good music if a colorful artistic video accompanies it. I guess enjoyable visuals help the human mind relate and remember enjoyable music, and I think there is a good probability that if my rambles are insufficient to turn a few ears to “Lovers in The Rain” than the music video should do the trick, because the music video carries as much charm as the song itself.

The story told in “Lovers in The Rain” music video is that of a young boy reading a comic book about a futuristic oppressive society with a hooded protagonist being chased by evil robotic overlords. The unexpected happens when the young boy from our reality is teleported within the pages of the comic. Whilst inside he and the hooded figure are chased by flying insect creatures with laser guns. The pursuit persist until the young boy unleashes his newly discovered super powers of energy projection and saves the day. With this display of heroism, the hooded figure introduces herself by revealing her purple face. The boy expresses love at first sight and they walk away together with the promise of new adventures.

All in all, I think it is a great music video. I do not watch videos at work, I listen to them, you know, because I am working. It so happens that I stumbled across “Lovers in The Rain” while at work, so I listened to the youtube video probably a half dozen times before I finally watched the video. So, for me personally, the song “Lover in The Rain” was enough to get me onboard for it, I did not need the visuals to win me over, but maybe it will help others to appreciate this fine piece of entertainment.

I wonder if The Night Flight Orchestra sell actual physical comic books depicting the events and visuals from the “Lovers in The Rain” music video. That would be a good idea for merchandise on their website and at their concerts. I think it is a good idea.

So yeah, The Night Flight Orchestra “Lovers in The Rain,” good song, good music video. Good stuff.

- King of Braves