Band:	Royal Hunt
Album:	Moving Target
Style:	Symphonic power metal
Release date:	1995
Guest review by:	Mountain King

01. Last Goodbye
02. 1348
03. Making A Mess
04. Far Away
05. Step By Step
06. Autograph
07. Stay Down
08. Give It Up
09. Time
10. Far Away [acoustic version] [European & American bonus]
11. Double Conversion [European bonus]
12. Intro~Wasted Time [live] [European bonus]
13. Flight [live] [European bonus]
14. Stranded [live] [European bonus]
15. Epilogue [live] [European bonus]

Moving Target, the 3rd album in Royal Hunt's discography, was the first album to feature D.C Cooper on vocals. For people who don't know D.C Cooper, he is one of the best metal singers out there nowadays and has the ability to sing various kinds of styles which contributed to the success of this album. Another key feature in this album are André Andersen's keyboards. André is the mastermind behind Royal Hunt's songs and his neoclassical influences can very clearly be heard in this album.

The album starts with the masterpiece "Last Goodbye", which in my opinion is the best song this band has released to date. It contains a lot of variations that keeps the listener interested and I assure you that you won't get easily bored of this song. D.C Coopers uses a deep voice as well as very pitched vocals which give this song a charm. The keyboards are genuine and couldn't be done better. Other interesting tracks on the album would be "1348" and "Time". "1348" is a song about the black death that struck Europe in the middle ages and the highlight in this song in my opinion are the lyrics and D.C Coopers ability to perfectly deliver the meaning of the lyrics and the situation at that time. Other good songs could be found on the album including "Makin' A Mess" and "Far Away". These songs have the same neoclassical feel that the album imposes on earlier songs like "Last Goodbye". The song I mentioned earlier "Time", is a very interesting track which starts off like a ballad and then kicks into a neoclassical power metal song.

Overall this album is very enjoyable and it could be compared to Yngwie Malmsteen's albums in the 80's with an amazing singer handling the vocals. Royal Hunt are one of the best progressive power metal bands that came out of Denmark, so if you are willing to start listening to this band I suggest getting acquainted with this album first and then moving on to Paradox, Fear and Paper Blood. One last funny comment; I think the band decided to remake the instrumental "Third Stage" off the album Clown In The Mirror into the song "Last Goodbye". Check it out!