Review Summary: Power metal infused black metal is back and better than ever!
There is honestly nothing like a black metal album that makes you have some FUN. Too many black metal bands take themselves too seriously and they always have. If you don't sacrifice goats in the forest or have any sense of melody you can't be "trve" black metal right? Well, Finnish symphonic black metal masters Moonlight Sorcery don't give a *** about any of that. These guys have been gracing us with short EPs over the past couple of years, leaving everyone wanting more...and we finally have it with their debut album
Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle.
The album title and art should let you know that these guys are all about dark fantasy inspired themes and their music reflects it.
Horned Lord of the Thorned Castle is a bonanza of lightning fast and extremely melodic riffs obviously influenced by power metal and their fellow countrymen Children of Bodom. The keys are just as important as the riffs here perfectly contrasting the upbeat albeit dark riffs, giving you a feeling of hope for whatever fairy princess Moonlight Sorcery are trying to save from the "horned lord". The vocals here remind me of Bal-Sagoth a bit, with extremely high pitched banshee shrieks combine with a more gothic spoken word thing going that really makes you feel like you're being told a demonic fairytale from hell.
The mix of power metal and black metal can be a tricky one. One that Children of Bodom perfected over two decades ago with their first 3 albums. Moonlight Sorcery are here to take the torch from their Finnish brothers and they've added their own spin on it, being more rooted in black metal (so many tremz) than CoB ever was. The feeling I keep coming back to while jamming this is that of being stuck in a fantasy movie where I'm on a journey into the forest to battle the horned lord. The invovation of such feelings lets you know you've been listening to a musical masterpiece that people can get lost in. That's exactly what Moonlight Sorcery has done, and they're just getting started!
