Lunar Manifesto

There is something appealing about trashing the latest craze. It's not unique to the metal scene, but said crowd tends to catch a bum rap of being the only ones reacting to the success of a new act negatively due to the often extreme nature of the reaction itself. Likewise, this tendency doesn't necessarily result in a band being unfairly dismissed as there is some genuine crap out there, but in the case of the highly visible, gothic-tinged metal act hailing from Brazil known as Semblant, the glorified mallcore label just doesn't fit. Where some might be befuddled at the sudden meteoric rise of this band to millions of plays on YouTube and a correspondingly high level of activity on various streaming sites, the reality is a band that has been plugging away at things for the better part of eight years by the time their highly popular 2014 sophomore LP Lunar Manifesto was unleashed upon the masses, and one sporting a blend of various metal styles that is fairly unique despite a seemingly by-the-numbers Epica-styled niche at its exterior.

To be fair, the element of this band that probably proved the biggest viewer draw was the beauty and the beast vocal combination of front man and co-founder Sérgio Mazul and the angelic, blue-haired siren and vocal foil Mizuho Lin. The visual involved makes for a music video template that would play perfectly to fans of the current incarnation of Arch Enemy and also Alissa White-Gluz's former outfit The Agonist, and the most predominant metal sub-style in the music behind the voices has a sort of melodeath meets metalcore flavor that dovetails with both. Even the flashy lead guitar work of Juliano Ribeiro has a strong affinity for the wild technical showmanship often featured out of Jeff Loomis and Michael Amott. But a closer inspection of the nuances going on between these obvious points of comparison is where things get a bit interesting, as Mazul's various harsh and clean vocalizations run the gamut of modern metal personas, often showcasing a range of low-end barks to higher ranged shrieks normally reserved to Dani Filth, while the employment of keyboard work courtesy of J. Augusto injects a mix of progressive and even some occasional industrial elements into the equation.

This band's greatest asset, however, is to be found in the varied songwriting approach that is taken from one song to the next, which veers away from a typical symphonic act after the mode of Epica and Nightwish quite brazenly. The opening crusher "Incinerate" has more of a high octane thrashing quality to it that feeds into the aforementioned Arch Enemy comparisons, though the harsh vocal display is far more varied and, at times goes a tad overboard on the dramatics. In total, the song proves to be a bit mixed up even by melodeath standards as Lin's angelic vocals combined with a deeper clean harmony out of Mazul has a decidedly gothic feel to it, and some of the slower moments have a modern groove character to them. "Dark Of The Day" follows a somewhat similar formula, though has more of a nuanced and melodic bent to it in between the kinetic moments during the verses. Then again, the nuance all but melts away completely on the chaotic cruiser "The Shrine", which basically goes full Arch Enemy mode with a side order of schizophrenic Cradle Of Filth vocal madness, rivaling "Incinerate" for the distinction of being the most intense offering on here.

All of that being said, this is not an album that lives by unfettered speed and fury alone; in fact, much of this album rests at a more moderate pace more readily associated with the likes of Lacuna Coil and Delain, albeit with a much heavier bottom end. The closest thing to a digression into prototypical symphonic metal with a gothic-edge radio fodder, namely massive YouTube and Spotify hit "What Lies Ahead", is about the closest thing on here to a direct nod to this niche, and features Lin's strong yet smooth vocals as the centerpiece. It's not necessarily a weak offering, but it definitely errs on the side of simplicity from an instrumental standpoint and almost sounds like it could have been a B-side on a Comalies or Once associated single. Similar sonic stories are told on compact and catchy anthems like "Bursting Open" and "The Blind Eye", differentiating from the mainline symphonic metal sound primarily via a more virtuosic guitar demonstration and some quirky moments interspersed amid the vocal sections. Even reasonably heavier and drawn out anthems such as "Selfish Liar" and "Mists Over The Future" split the difference between sounding like Finnish melodeath a la Eternal Tears Of Sorrow and a more metallic answer to mid-2000s Nightwish, spiced up at the fringes with some solid guitar detailing, but still fairly derivative and predictable.

This isn't the greatest thing to come raging out of the metal scene in recent years, but it's not really the nu-metal meets unoriginal Epica-worship that some were making it out to be when it first rose to prominence in 2015. Far from simply going through the motions, this is a band that mixes together a fair number of disparate influences, albeit popular ones, and comes out with something that's a bit more intricate than the standard, modern rock-driven gothic metal that is more common of late. There is a lot of potential for growth to be had here, especially when considering all of the technical abilities of each instrumentalist and the highly unique combination of vocal styles on display by the beast character in this duet approach. By contrast, angelic vocal draw Mizuho Lin proves to be the most static part of the arrangement, effecting a needed respite from the harshness and doing so competently, but ultimately coming off as a bit indistinct and doesn't quite match the charisma displayed by a Sharon Den Adel or a Simone Simons. Those who enjoy more modern-tinged outfits featuring female voices such as Ignea and Karkaos will definitely go for this, as will those who don't mind a side order of metalcore to go with their melodeath riffs.

I remember finding this album probably two to three years ago. I forget what I was listening to beforehand, but I clicked on something that was recommended on YouTube: "Dark of the Day" by Semblant. I remember quite liking it, so I bought it along with "What Lies Ahead", "Incinerate", "Mists Over the Future", and "The Shrine". I didn't listen to any other song, I was content with this batch. So, how did it age? How was the rest of the album?

I'll get it out of the way before anything else. This album isn't great. By the end, I was so happy just to be done with it. If every song lived up to the heights that "Incinerate" set, dare I say it, it'd be a 10 out of 10. I really do mean that. Unfortunately, nope. They don't do that.

Let's first talk about the vocals... It's tough to say exactly what was done right and what was done wrong here. Sergio Mazul is the male vocalist, and he has such an incredible range. From banshee-like screams to low growls that sound pretty damn good, even to clean singing, and also shouts. Aside from the shouts, which suck, they all sound great. He does the former two much more in the front half of the album, but "Mists Over the Future" is the last song which has any of that. So that just leaves his clean vocals, and... See, they're really good in small doses, but when that's his primary contribution, you get sick of it quickly. They aren't as bad as his shouts, and considering what he *can* do, yeah, what the fuck was the point here? Then you have Mizuho Lin, and she only does clean vocals. See, they sound pretty good, for the most part, at least on the front half of the album. Sometimes they sounded stock and forced, but it was few and far between. But for over half of the album, that's not the case, and it made me wish that we only had Sergio... At least the one that had the balls to scream and growl in addition to his clean singing. They're surprisingly talented singers when they really put their heart into it, and when they do, they sound excellent. But when they don't (And they didn't for half the album), it makes you want to weep in frustration because "Hey, I listened to the first half and it sounded really good, surely it gets better by the second! I've already come this far, I mighas well finish!" If this is your thought process, I will tell you now: It doesn't get better, please put the album down for your own sake. For whatever reason, I bought the only good songs all those years back. Past me was either incredibly smart or incredibly lucky.

The guitarwork tends to play it on the safe side, and that's aggravating as fuck because *sometimes* the two guitarists actually take risks or get creative, and you know what happens when they do? It sounds fucking phenomenal. Granted, they put heart into it much more often than the vocalists, and all of the instrumentation carries that second half, but just barely. The drumming is also really good, for the most part, but again, Thor's best performance is easily on "Incinerate", where he plays like a god. Hell, they all do. Even the bassist does.

I'll just jump into the songs now. "Incinerate" is easily the best song on the album, and it's up there with the greats of melodeath songs. I really do mean that. Everyone's talent is on full display, and they put their hearts and souls into it. Even if you hate "Dark of the Day" and "What Lies Ahead" (And fair enough, the latter song didn't age quite as well), do yourself a favor and listen to the opening track. "Mists Over the Future" is easily another highlight. Everyone gets a little creative here, save for Mizuho, though her vocals do sound pretty damn good, so no creativity's needed. Sergio gets two fantastic piercing screams on the album, one on "Dark of the Day", and another here. The latter one is so fucking good, I straight up can't understand the words as it goes into something that just sounds... Wavy, in lack of better words. It's something you'd have to hear for yourself, it's around the 4:30 mark in "Mists Over the Future". I know some might get annoyed by his highs, but I love them. "The Shrine" and "Ode to Rejection" have fantastic instrumentals, but man are they let down by the vocals. Sergio's fine in the former, but they're both shit in the latter. Meanwhile, "Selfish Liar" could've had some fantastic instrumentals (The vocals were a lost cause), the guitarists restrain themselves too much. The some fucking begs for some balls. Also, since I don't know where else to mention it, the lyrics are fucking laughable. I don't mean in one song, I mean in the whole album. Pretty sure they were just 'okay' on "Incinerate", but man is there no substance anywhere else.

But let's talk about the bad songs. Come on, after all the bashing I did, I'm clearly going to rip on something in the second half of the album. Nope. While, sure, all of them are pretty bad once "Mists Over the Future" ends (No, seriously, I didn't enjoy any of the subsequent songs), none of them are the worst. Okay, so it's "What Lies Ahead", right? Also nope. Sure, it's commercial as fuck, but I can respect it and recommend it to fans of Lacuna Coil (And I'm one of the people, to be fair). But there's one song that is just an absolute abomination. It should have never made the cut. It's "Bursting Open". Nothing about the song is even remotely good. There is nothing good to say. The song is lazy in every single way, and it just sounds like radio garbage that would be played at 3 AM when nobody's listening just because "Hey, it fits the hour". This song is too safe even for Lacuna Coil, Amaranthe, or even modern In This Moment- At least before Mother. Fuck that album. "Bursting Open" is the song that is perfect material for a single: It's safe, it's only clean vocals, there's even a little piano part that would sound nice if Mizuho wasn't singing over it, but... It's also that song that sucks too much to be a single. It doesn't even know if it's trying to be radio material or a ballad, but it fails at both. It fails at everything it's trying to do. Hell, "What Lies Ahead" succeeds at what this song tried to do. Fuck this song, it never should've made the album, I wish I could get those four minutes of my life back. Sure, the second half of the album all blends in together and has few redeemable moments, but at least it has that. At least all of that combined still isn't as bad as "Bursing Open". Song's one of the most inane pieces of garbage I've ever fucking heard, and that pisses me off even more considering "Incinerate" and "Mists Over the Future".

I'd love to rate this album below 40%, but there are some good songs in the first half. "Incinerate" is a shining star, and it shows that this band is capable of absolute greatness. It is one of the best things I've ever heard, and that pisses me off so much considering the other shit that's on here. "Mists Over the Future" is also phenomenal, it's another wonderful song through and through. It barely falls short of "Incinerate", but it's so very easily the second-best song on the album. The thing is that, for the most part, everyone phones it in for the rest of the album. You could cut 6-7 of the songs (Give or take "What Lies Ahead"), and you would have such a magnificent melodeath EP on your hands. But instead, the band took a bar of gold, smeared it with shit, and melted it down. That's the feeling I get here. I was much more generous that the previous 35% here, but that's only because "Incinerate" and "Mists Over the Future" are just that good. If it wasn't for those two songs, I'd actually give it a 35% as well.

But hey, at least fans of the band wouldn't wait six years for an even worse album. Right? Haha... Ha...

God fucking damn it, Semblant.

Songs to Recommend: "Incinerate", "Dark of the Day", "The Shrine", "Mists Over the Future"
Songs to Avoid: "Bursting Open", Every song after "Mists Over the Future"

Also, I didn't really know where else to say this, but they made a comic series that was based off of this album in that six year gap. It's called Blood Chronicles, and although I wish I could tell you guys if it's good or not, I haven't read it.

I really don't know how, or why, this band got popular among a lot of metal sites. It isn't that good, nor original, nor creative- just really poorly executed melodeth-inspired "gothic" mallcore. This band does have potential, and a lot of it, but instead of using it for making decent music they made one of the most cancerous goth metal albums of the decade.

Don't let the first song confuse you about the album- it is actually pretty good. It has what most of the album lacks- good melodic riffs, decent drumming, and good vocals (which I'll discuss later on). When this song ends, the bad part of the album begins in which riffs become more mallcoreish and stale, the drums more samey, and the vocals start being REALLY obnoxious. Lunar Manifesto uses the symphonic/gothic style of the "beauty and the beast" concept- which works well only in the first song. In the rest of the songs, either the clean female vocals by Mizuho Lin (which is one of the band's gimmicks herself) become too mechanic and pseudo-emotional, with the growled vocals being more annoying and cringy. The keyboards don't help the album as well, even though they are one of the album's most notable points.

And then comes the song What Lies Ahead which is what gave my attention to the band. I couldn't give it more than 30 seconds in the first five listens, and I can barely listen to it even now. It has the most processed female vocals ever, along with the cringiest vocals that are featured here, and riffs that sound too much like they were taken from Mudvayne or Disturbed. How this got almost 5 million views on YouTube is a miracle by itself. There are a few good sections in the rest of the songs in the album (I can't recall which because they all sound the same to each other), but we're talking about Semblant and not Delain here, so they were used in a very sparse and uneven manner through the duration of the album instead of giving the stronger riffs (and parts) of the album more spotlight time.

Overall, this album sucks really hard. It really brings the newer Lacuna Coil albums to mind, which are also mallcore-infused gothic metal. The only difference between those two bands is that this has better production in some parts, a more melodeath-y sound (which was badly executed, but still), and a male growler which uses below decent cleans as well. I can surely say that Lunar Manifesto is one of the most boring goth metal albums I've listened to so far, and the only manifesto that this could be compared to is the Transcendental Black Metal Manifesto, for being just as pretentious and cringe-worthy. Avoid.