Band: Moonshade Title: Sun Dethroned Genre: Melodic Death Metal Time: 46.07 Release Date: 26th October 2018 Rating: 83/100
After Cronaxia, Portugal come back here with Moonshade! These are a talented quintet from Oporto that, after their foundation in the now far 2010 and after various EPs and singles edited throughout the years, finally realized some months ago their debut album titled "Sun Dethroned" through Art Gates Records, a Spanish label that in 2018 produced plenty of very good albums,. Like this one.
Firstly, there is need to say that Moonshade plays in a style that isn't common on these pages. In fact, their music is a melodic death metal expressed through a soft way. I used the term "soft" because the 8 songs of this "Sun Dethroned" see a lot of mid-tempos (the fast ones are few), very melodic riffs full of crepuscular and melancholic tunes, some clean vocals, the presence of simple keyboards, and without forgetting that, from time to time, there are some atmospheric and also acoustic moments. But, despite this style doesn't belongs to the usual standards of this zine (you know, I prefer the most brutal and rotten forms of metal), I must say that "Sun Dethroned" surprised me positively!
This because Moonshade know how to create songs able to engagé you. For example, the tracks trasmit to the listeners a very dramatic atmosphere, the singer is really expressive with his alternation between screams and growls with the addition of some clean and whispered vocals, and some riffs are amazing. Plus, the guitarplayers continuously help each other since there are many lead guitar riffs useful not only to support the rhtyhmic ones and to give more atmosphere to the entire music but also to create a really embracing sound. Finally, expect to listen to nice guitar solos throughout the album. For me, the songs that exemplifies at its best all this are "Lenore" (that has elegant dreaming-like riffs), "World Torn Asunder" (with some keyboards characterized by more gothic vibes), and the 8-minute tour de force "A Dreamless Slumber", that close the album with the fireworks.
I think that all this is enough to say that "Sun Dethroned" has been a real surprise to me, after a first listening in which I wasn't amazed by it but, fortunately, I continued to listen to this album so to comprehend it better. Sure, for a brutal extreme metal maniac, the production can be too clean and maybe some songs needed more fast tempos. But, at the same time, it's also true that these 8 songs have an incredible atmosphere and also an old-school flavour which brings me back to the late '90s-early 2000 melodic death metal with the result that Moonshade reminds me a lot of Italian bands like the first Dark Lunacy or the Ancestral Stigmata of "Spirit" but even more International acts such as In Flames and Amon Amarth. So, if you like a very melancholic, dramatic and atmospheric way to conceive the old-school melodic death metal, then "Sun Dethroned" is perfect for you. Without any fukken doubts.
Tracklist:
1 - God of Nothingness
2 - The Flames that Forged Us
3 - Lenore
4 - Sun Dethroned
5 - Upon Your Ashes
6 - World Torn Asunder
7 - Eventide
8 - A Dreamless Slumber
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