The Mad Moon Rising

Alright, so I listened to «Mad Moon Rising » a few times before I looked up on the web for some info about this band. After hearing this album I though they’d have released a few albums before, but nope. All these guys ever did was record 5 demos between ’99 and 2002. Damn, was I impressed. These guys almost sound like Prog-metal masters already. Well I’ll admit it, it isn’t entirely progressive. Some parts sound a bit more melodic – in fact, most of the album is filled with melodies.

The riffs are very heavy and progressive, and of course, they always have a little melodic floating around. Some keyboard effects are added in from time to time to add a little futuristic/sci-fi feel, but they never take over the music whatsoever. This album focuses on progressive and melodic riffs, and nothing else. Some riffs are also catchy as fuck. Just listen to the intro (or the whole song, whatever) of “Garden of Fallen Kings”.

Now the part I didn’t like about this album were the vocals. A lot of people may disagree with me, but I think the vocals are just boring and unoriginal. I’ve got nothing against a Finnish accent, but I just felt that the vocalist needs to do something to set himself apart from the usual vocal style.

I got the re-release of this album, which came with 3 bonus tracks. I thought “Hiding In The Bush” was pretty boring until that kick-ass chorus came in, I didn’t expect something this good after that uninspired verse. The 2 other bonus song were pretty nice, and they’d be enjoyed by most prog-metal fans.

Overall, this was some great stuff. If it wasn’t for the uninspired vocals, I would’ve given it a much higher note. But noone can ignore the amazing riffs.