Band:	Lunatica
Album:	New Shores
Style:	Symphonic power metal
Release date:	February 2009

01. New Shores
02. Two Dreamers
03. How Did It Come To This?
04. The Incredibles
05. My Hardest Walk
06. Farewell My Love
07. The Chosen Ones
08. Heart Of A Lion
09. Into The Dissonance
10. Winds Of Heaven
11. The Day The Falcon Dies
12. Timekeeper [Japan bonus]

If the futuristic zeppelin on the cover of Lunatica's latest effort is symbolic of the music on the album, then it is flying in circles. The music is not standing completely still, but nor is it reaching any new shores. It pains me to say this, but Lunatica's 2009 release is nowhere near as good as their previous two albums and it might actually be the worst album this band has ever given us.

The first big problem is an overdose of ballads, there are far too many on New Shores and they're all pretty boring. The second big problem is that the riffs, the melodies, the solos and the song structures in general are woefully unimaginative, which makes listening to this album a very forgettable experience. The few songs that attempt to be less conventional in their structure fall flat on their face. The prog-oriented bridge in "My Hardest Walk" goes absolutely nowhere and might as well not be there at all. There is one exception to these problems and that's the seventh track "The Chosen Ones", which features pretty good solos and stands out for being heavier and catchier than the rest of New Shores. Sadly, just one great song is not nearly enough to lift this album out from the swamp of mediocrity.

One of the better aspects of New Shores are the lyrics, which (with a few exceptions such as the the topical and preachy "The Incredibles") are simple, but very emotional and personal and as usual with Lunatica, they're execution dependent. These same lyrics would not be good, if they weren't performed with just the right combination of passion and power. This brings me to the one thing that almost saves this album from being the disappointment that it is: Andrea's vocals. The creative core of Lunatica is flying in circles, but Andrea is not. She is truly an angel of music and flies on her own wings into great heights. This is especially evident in the duet "Farewell My Love", where her sincere statement "maybe sometimes love is hurting, but it's the sweetest pain I know" cuts right through the listener's heart. This line would be cheesy and just plain awful, were it performed by somebody else, but Andrea really makes it work. Her voice is very enjoyable, the music she has to perform is not.

If you're having a hard time understanding why I am being so rough on New Shores despite it being just average and not actually bad, then I recommend that you go and listen to the divine atmospheric intro of "Sons Of The Wind" or the headbanger's dream that is "The Spell". Once you have done that, listen to New Shores again and try to find a song that even comes close to that quality. When Andrea's angelic voice called to me on Fables & Dreams, singing, "listen to me and you'll meet your fate, my voice is so sweet it won't let you escape", I agreed completely. The most self-aware lyrics on New Shores are: "How did it come to this?"