Feltia

Luna Obscura are a melodic death/gothic hybrid hailing from Greece whose sole release so far is this album, Feltia. Since its release they've been talking about releasing another album, but in the seven years that this album has existed this has so far failed to materialise. It's a shame too, as Feltia shows a lot of promise and I'm sure that another Luna Obscura would be welcomed by many.

It needs to be said that the keyboard brings the band to life here. I'd expected it to be the guitars that did that due to the melodeath tag, but they're actually quite disappointing (more on that later). The keyboard however is not, and while it isn't used as any great driving force the little touches that it adds more than make up for the guitars that are all too present. I always find it odd that the most subtle part of the band can prove to be the most crucial, but without the keyboard this band would be dull and two-dimensional. It's like the entire band gains something from the keyboard's placement, and let me tell you that they need it.

The reason I was interested in Luna Obscura more than anything else was the the idea of a soprano singer in my melodeath. Since hearing Infinite Tales for the first time it's been a combination that always interests me, although by this point the whole melodeath thing had taken a backseat. I can happily say though that Gogo Melone doesn't disappoint. Her voice is powerful and is clearly made to be the centre of attention as it is far further forward in the mix than anything else. I do find though that at times her voice does drop in quality a little, mostly in the heavier sections where she's required to sing more forcefully. To me she sounds almost like she's trying too hard in those sections, whereas in the quieter sections she sounds very effortless and elegant. There are some occasional growls, but they only appear to be there for the sake of adding a little variation.

However, it isn't all great. As I said earlier, one of these problems comes courtesy of the guitars. They're not exactly captivating at the best of times across the album, the majority of their work consisting of tedious chugging and boring sequences of power chords. It kind of eliminates the whole melodic part that made me interested in the band in the first place. At times I do hear some leads in there, but they're actually drowned out by the rhythm guitars for the most part. Take 'Symphony of the Sighs' as an example of that. Even the solo is barely audible above what should be merely background noise. Okay, this isn't always the case, and on tracks like 'Dance of Forsaken Souls' the leads are far more noticeable and play a much greater role, but they still aren't quite the overpowering omnipresent force that I'd like them to be. The drumming is also swamped by everything else, but I'm not too fussed about that as it mostly consists of a boring plodding rhythm that adds nothing to the band.

Overall I'd say Feltia was a very strong debut and it is a shame that we haven't heard any more from Luna Obscura. There are a few things that need to be sorted out (mostly in the guitar department), but otherwise they show a great deal of promise. The album actually gets better the further on it runs I find, which is never a bad thing either. I would however recommend this foremost to fans of gothic metal, as the melodeath elements are sadly lacking for a large portion of the album.