Kalpa Taru

Moonlight has always been considered a gothic band or at least a band that has a lot in common with the gothic imagery/music/scene/etc. This is only partially true as the band has used varied elements in their music, such as progressive rock, nu-rock, trip hop, acoustic rock, Middle-Eastern scales, often to a satisfying effect. This particular album is stylistically schizophrenic, as many debuts are. But it works.

It starts with "Strach", the drumming reminding me of, well, the beginning of the "Suck on This" album by Primus, of all things. An excellent opener utilising some unusual time signatures and... completely non-representative for the album. Then, "Stadium Wiary" has an interesting chorus and is a rather strange little track, due to the spoken part and the main keyboard/guitar riff. "Cisza Przed Burz¹" is an almost all-acoustic song based on an excellent melody, serving as a king of prelude to "Extaza Milczenia", which begins where "Cisza..." leaves off, evolving into a simple but exceptionally effective heavy climax. "Conquistador" is dynamic but rather annoying due to the chorus being repeated way too often. "Modlitwa o Zmiłowanie" is just perfect. Its chorus is one of the best 'catchy in a non-cheesy way' choruses I've heard.

So the stylistic rollercoaster ride continues until the end of the album, each song memorable and containing something distinguishing it from the rest. Some quick examples: "Hexe" - Spanish guitar-based verses, "Zmierzch" - a very optimistic and spiritual acoustic ballad. "Deformis" - pure strangeness, "Zbrodnia i Kara" - pretensious, "Belibaste" - a keyboard-based, totally non-metal, or even rock, song. The melodies the band comes up with are often quite interesting and although they do have a gothic edge to them, they are never obvious or irritating or 'melodramatic', in the bad goth sense.

The sound of this album could be heavier and more spacious. The electric guitars are underproduced and the drums are not powererful enough, lacking the punch. But it's a debut so there's no need to complain, really, as all the instruments are clearly audible and well separated, and the production does not detract from the listening experience.

Apart from the varied songwriting and rollercoaster musical ideas, Moonlight has a singer with a very good voice (Maja Konarska). However, her delivery is sometimes over-the-top, which, together with at times very pretentious lyrics, can be annoying (not a big problem if you don't know Polish). There are some pretty clean/acoustic guitar parts throughout but the electric guiar sticks to basic riffing most of the time. Which is not a drawback, as it fits the music well.

So, this is not gothic. It's more gothic-tinged progressive rock/metal. I'd recommend the album to anyone who likes variety in music. It is one of the best, if not THE best, album in Moonlight's discography, definitely worth checking out.