Luna Mortis - The Absence - review
Luna Mortis - The Absence - review
Tracklist
01. Ash02. Ruin
03. Reformation
04. This Departure
05. The Absence
06. Forever More
07. Never Give In
08. Phantoms
09. Last Defiance
10. Embrace The End
A review by
Dream Taster March 24, 2010
Halfway between Gothenburg Melodic Death and Symphonic Metal a la Within Temptation, this female-fronted band plays games with you head switching tempo in mid-song while keeping it flowing. The fusion of the two styles could have been a disaster; it ends up being a stroke of genius.
Singer Mary Zimmer is more than able to deliver her clean or guttural vocals and to switch it over when you less expected. The two shredders Brian Koenig and Cory Scheider make wonders while Jacob Bare on bass and Erik Madsen on drums keep a tight rhythm section.
Aside from the beautiful cover art and the excellent production, The Absence is an intense journey into a rarely visited musical landscape. Sometimes albums like this one have a tendency to overdo one aspect of the music, this one actually manages to balance its influences inside out. Luna Mortis does not shy away from trying to experiment. Don’t expect a stale melange of styles. This is one hell of a dynamic album.
Frankly the only problem I can spot with The Absence is that the listener must like Symphonic Metal and Melodic Death equally to fully enjoy the entire album. But if that sounds like fun to you, get this one blindfolded. Sadly, Luna Mortis disbanded in early 2010. Let’s hope we’ll hear again from them under a different moniker.
Highlights: ‘Last Defiance’, ‘Ash’,’ Ruin’
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 8 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 8 |
| Production: | 8 |
Written on 24.03.2010 by
Written on 24.03.2010 by
Bringing you reviews of quality music and interesting questions such as:"A picture is worth a thousand words. How many words is a song worth?"
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Comments
Comments:
6
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Great instrumentation, but the vocals destroyed this album for me. She reminds me of Oops!...I Did It Again-era Britney Spears. 
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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 Posts: 3523 |
Posts: 3523
Excellent album, and great to see a review on it. I think my favorite song after a year's listening is "Reformation", but really, a solid listen throughout  And absolutely no complaints from me regarding the vocals; Mary was great when they were still called The Ottoman Empire, and hopefully will resurface soon in another project.
---- "After silence that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music." - Aldous Huxley
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Posts: 30  |
Posts: 30 Written by Troy Killjoy on 24.03.2010 at 06:09 Although she doesn't remind me of Britney Spears I agree with you that the vocals is the worst part of the album. The instrumental stuff is great, but is often ruined by the bad vocals.
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Posts: 711  |
Posts: 711
The review is spot on, nothing to add or criticize. I really enjoyed listening to the album but I didn't find anything innovative or out of the ordinary imo + I didn't find the vocals particularly annoying, on the contrary the vocalist's performance was on par or evem complemented the musicianship, well to my ears at least. Also, I might be wrong but I think that the guitar riffs have a thrashy feel to them?
---- Laugh and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.
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