My first impression of this album was that it sounded pretty commercial compared to the band's previous albums. Further listens showed that it's not so much more commercial as it is more accessible—some of it anyway. The melodies and some of the music are certainly more ear-friendly for "non metalheads", while still being metal, but there's still a lot of crunchy melodic heavy metal with a harder edge to be found here. The album is less Maiden-ish than in the past; you can hear it in some songs if you pay very close attention, especially in the guitar work, but overall the band branched out even more than on Blood for Blood. That is not true of the album closer and title track, which sounds like Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son had a baby together. If you like these albums, you're in for a treat with that song. Overall, the album is very much in the Aria vein, with the infectious vocal melodies and catchy riffs and solos, with a little hard rock influence here and there this time around. Night is Shorter than Day demanded more listens for it to really sink in, but once it did, just like any of their previous albums it became a regular on my busy playlist.
