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MOONLIGHT HAZE “Interstellar Madness”
MOONLIGHT HAZE “Interstellar Madness”
By Bob Burner
Here we have Italian symphonic power metal act MOONLIGHT HAZE’S fifth release which is a short 5 song EP… wel,l 6 if you count the outro track. This was my first introduction to the band and it checks all of the boxes when it comes to this style of power metal for better or for worse. The band is super talented and has a great sound but the main issue is that it sounds like too many other bands in this style. The power metal scene is over flooded with bands and I am having flashbacks to the early 2000’s where there was an overflow of bands which all ended up sounding alike. But there are a bunch of good things about MOONLIGHT HAZE and this EP so let’s dig in and check this out.
Sadly the EP starts out with kind of a whimper with the track “Moonlight Legion” which is a mid-paced song which doesn’t grab you right away. Chiara Tricarico is a very talented singer but also sounds like most other power metal singers with no real special edge to her voice to make her sound different to stand out in the overcrowded scene. The first song does allow her to use her range with some faster parts mixed with some very symphonic parts where she is able to get a nice energy going. The issue is that the chorus does not really stick with you and leaves you wanting to explore more. I do love the mix of backing vocals and giving the song some life and a fuller sound.
The next few songs kind of blend together and make it seem like it is one long song playing which is not a good thing for an EP. It is not till the 3rd song “Shine” where the band really shines, no pun intended. Now this is how the album should have started. This song is full of life and catchy and really makes you take notice. This is more of a rocking song and one I have gone back to a bunch of times while writing this review. It is not breaking new ground but with power metal I am not looking for that. I am looking for catchy and great music that is fun. And this song nails it. I really wish the whole EP carried the energy from this song over.
The final song has your more operatic style vocals and a good way to close off this short EP with a heavy dose of great keyboards as well. It does open the path for their next full length and gives the listener a hint of what is to come. I never get why bands also waste an EP with a filler outro track and not another full song. I get it but it is one thing that bothers me when buying albums. They do this with the track “Interstellar Madness: Finale” where it is an instrumental outro. With this EP I hoped it would have been a packed solid blast of symphonic power metal making me want more.
Overall the EP is not bad but it is kind of stagnant and full of stereotypes of the genre. There is a lot of good stuff with this like the vocals but overall it seems stuck with sounding like too many other bands in the genre. The band is talented and the production is top notch but overall this is a very average release that is for the core fans of this style. I am going to check out some of their other albums to see the progression of the band because they do interest me. Hopefully on the next full length they will experiment more and try to stand out and avoid all of the tropes. This is one I would only recommend to fans of the genre.
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