"Afterlife" (2000) is the fourth album from Sweden's Nocturnal Rites and the second one I bought. My first Nocturnal Rites purchase was New World Messiah (2004), and I will restrict my discussion of their discography to those two albums.Judging by the negative reviews published in 2000, "Afterlife" was quite controversial upon its release. From what little I've heard of Nocturnal Rites' early work, I can understand why. But listening to this album now, long after the controversy has died down, there's simply no denying the greatness of "Afterlife". I realized it when I tried to pick my favorite song and discovered what a daunting task this was.My closest analogy for what "Afterlife" sounds like is Judas Priest's Painkiller. Not that the two sound that much alike, although "Afterlife" contains some Priest influences to be sure. But Nocturnal Rites did with "Afterlife" what Judas Priest did with "Painkiller". They took what they were doing before and made it faster, heavier, and more vicious!My definition of a five star release is a rare album where picking the highlights results in nearly the entire track list. This surpasses that. There is not a single weak, or even mediocre, song on "Afterlife". "New World Messiah" had its share of filler ("Break Away" for instance). This has none. "Afterlife" is a killer album from start to finish.It's hard to find fault with this CD. As I mentioned in my review of New World Messiah, the production on "Afterlife" is a bit muffled, especially the vocals. And "Afterlife" clocks in at just over forty minutes. But that's about it. These quibbles are so minor they are insignificant.In conclusion, if you love heavy/power/speed metal and you don't own this, you're really missing out. Highly recommended.P.S. I finally managed to pick a favorite song: "The Sinner's Cross". I've had easier root canals.