Moonlight Haze – Lunaris

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Please, don’t judge me, but sometimes I choose the album to review by its title. I just can’t explain in details how I choose it because I don’t exactly know either. It is a mix of title and expectative of genre. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. And life goes on…

Okay, Moonlight Haze’s thing is the Symphonic Metal with a more commercial approach which is given by the keyboards that in some entrances turns into a piano. A very interesting feature that “Lunaris” offers the fan is that some tracks come in Italian, and those tracks are the ones with a more vivid opera approach. By the way, “Enigma” has an English version by the end of the album.  “Under Your Speel” and “Enigma” tell it so. Well, coincidence or not, they are the tracks that attracted me the most. As usual in Symphonic bands, vocalist Chiara Tricarico’s voice stands out. She’s very talented and gifted with a great vocal range. She goes easyly to high pitches and coming back also very easyly. In fact, all the band is very talented. The thing is that when it’s regarding to Metal, the more correct and well-played the music is, it doesn’t stand out much. I mean, there is always the need for something broken, something wicked. For instance, “The Dangerous Art Of Overthinking” got much more interesting with the male wicked vocals that duet with Chiara Tricarico. It’s that dialect thing that I always say. The contrast.

For the fan’s sake, “Lunaris” little by little goes getting more symphonic approached than the commercial it began. The fans of Neoclassical will be jawbroken with the sequence “Of Birth and Death” and “Nameless City.” I was as well. The undeniable fact is that the mix of Metal and Classical music works so damn fine. Most Extreme Metal fans don’t agree, but it gets very powerfull and thrilling. “Nameless City” is undeniably powerfull with a remarkable pounding drumming that overpowers the stampede effect of the song. Guitars got a little shadowed by the drumming, but the outcome is great.

Okay, “Lunaris” is a great suggestion for these days of social distancing.

Moonlight Haze “Lunaris” will be released on June 12th via Scarlet Records.

Track Listing:

  1. Till the End
  2. The Rabbit of the Moon
  3. Lunaris
  4. Under Your Spell
  5. Enigma
  6. Wish upon a Scar
  7. The Dangerous Art of Overthinking
  8. Without You
  9. Of Birth and Death
  10. Nameless City
  11. Enigma (English Version)

Watch “The Rabbit of the Moon” official music video:

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