Band:	The Dark Side Of The Moon
Album:	Metamorphosis
Style:	Symphonic power metal
Release date:	May 12, 2023
A review by:	musclassia

01. Legends Never Die
02. The Gates Of Time
03. Misty Mountains [feat. Tom S. Englund]
04. Double Trouble / Lumos! (Hedwig's Theme) [feat. Rusanda Panfili]
05. First Light [feat. Rusanda Panfili]
06. New Horizons [feat. Fabienne Erni]
07. The Wolven Storm (Priscilla's Song)
08. May It Be [feat. Charlotte Wessels]
09. If I Had A Heart
10. The Hanging Tree
11. Jenny Of Oldstones

In my recent reviews of Ad Infinitum, I pondered whether Melissa Bonny’s new project The Dark Side Of The Moon would fill the void vacated by Ad Infinitum’s shift away from the style of their debut, Chapter I: Monarchy. Having now heard Metamorphosis, it turns out the answer to that question is a pretty conclusive no.

To be honest, I should have been prepared, what with the band declaring at the time of signing with Napalm Records that they would be “transforming our favourite cinematic themes into powerful metal tracks”, not to mention their first release being a cover of “Jenny Of Oldstones” from Game Of Thrones. This first cover resulted from a bet between Bonny and Feuerschwanz guitarist Hans Platz, who dared the former to record a metal version of the song, before recruiting fellow Feuerschwanzer Jenny Diehl on harp and Morten Løwe Sørensen (Amaranthe) on drums to round out the line-up. To be honest, metal covers of TV/film/game music lie somewhere towards the bottom of my hierarchy of metal-related output, but since I already committed to reviewing the album before I realized what it involved, I gave it a shot anyway.

It's fair to acknowledge that these covers are at least a level or two above YouTube shred versions of the Skyrim or Game Of Thrones themes in terms of artistic merit, what with The Dark Side Of The Moon containing accomplished musicians, including the as-always compelling Bonny on vocals, as well as adding symphonic arrangements to these re-interpretations. For Metamorphosis, the group have included music from League Of Legends, Harry Potter, Lord Of The Rings/The Hobbit, Vikings, The Hunger Games and The Witcher, along with a couple of original compositions. It’s a range of covers that, while not remotely diving into cinematic deep cut territory, at least doesn’t entirely opt for the most obvious song choices.

As far as how these covers are pulled off, they pretty much span the whole range of ‘genuinely engaging reimagining of the original’, ‘works adequately without really adding anything’, and ‘loses the charm of the original’, and curiously enough, it’s the 2 songs from the same ‘universe’ that represent the extremes of this spectrum. On the one hand, “Misty Mountains” from The Hobbit loses its subtlety and turns into a tedious plodder with overwrought singing from Bonny and guest singer Tom Englund (Evergrey). Conversely, “May It Be” from The Fellowship Of The Ring’s soundtrack (originally by Enya) also features a guest vocalist (ex-Delain’s Charlotte Wessels), but despite the original being the most understated and unmetallic of any of the songs being covered, The Dark Side Of The Moon’s version takes the delicately beautiful chorus of the original and successfully turns it into a soaring, triumphant moment. Maybe it helps that the source material is arguably the strongest of any of the tracks selected to be covered while still leaving room for re-envisioning, but “May It Be” definitely steals the show on Metamorphosis for me.

Of the other songs, “Legends Never Die” is basically the original but with distorted guitars and harp instead of dance electronics, while “Double Trouble / Lumos! (Hedwig’s Theme)” has the most in common with the YouTube shred videos that I already acknowledged my dislike of. More positively, “The Wolven Storm (Priscilla’s Song)” does reasonably well to flesh out a lute ballad with riffs and metal melodies, “If I Had A Heart” retains the folk elements of the original (including violin), and “The Hanging Tree” fairly successfully converts the slow original into a thrash/power track. At the same time, excluding “May It Be” and “The Wolven Storm (Priscilla’s Song)”, how much one enjoys Metamorphosis will come down greatly to one’s patience for soundtrack covers.

There are also 3 originals to talk about, or at least I assume they’re originals, since I can’t find any pre-existing songs with the same lyrics. Of these, the Zelda-inspired “The Gates Of Time” stands out as the strongest to me; there’s one can hear Amaranthe heritage in it, but the rousing chorus is about as successful as elevating the song as Ad Infinitum’s have typically been on their last 2 albums. “First Light”, which prominently features session violinist Rusanda Panfili, has a folk metal edge to it, while “New Horizons” is a dramatic ballad duet on which Eluveitie’s Fabienne Erni appears. The latter is certainly pleasant, but neither is a particularly compelling song. Each track does, however, share enough in common with at least one of the covers on Metamorphosis as to fulfil the intended aim of the band to either cover cinematic tracks or write music inspired by the same source material.

Ultimately, Metamorphosis isn’t shy about what it is, and it’s generally adept at achieving what it’s aiming for. Enjoyment of the record is going to come down so much to what attitude the person listening has to these kinds of covers, which is why I’m refraining from rating it; I suspect a decent portion of our userbase is as uninterested in such endeavours as I am, in which case I would advise to skip, but if they’re something you like, this is maybe worth a go, if nothing else than for that very enjoyable “May It Be” cover.