Luna Mortis - The Absence

Rating

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RIYL

Arch Enemy
Trivium
Killswitch Engage
In This Moment

Release Date

02/10/2009

Label

Century Media

Tracklist

1. Ash 4:41
2. Ruin 4:02
3. Reformation 3:17
4. This Departure 5:10
5. The Absence 4:13
6. Forever More 3:39
7. Never Give In 6:24
8. Phantoms 3:56
9. Last Defiance 4:26
10. Embrace The End 6:22

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Few people may remember the release of The Ottoman Empire's Way of the Blade. It was a promising release of female-fronted progressive thrash metal that went largely unnoticed but was in dire need of a major label production job. The band's calls were answered in 2008 when they were picked up by Century Media and quickly shipped off into the studio with Jason Suecof (Trivium, All That Remains, Devildriver). Changing their name and also their sound, the resulting product is Luna Mortis' début, The Absence.

Essentially combining one part Trivium with one part Arch Enemy, Luna Mortis are 50% American metalcore and 50% Scandinavian melodic death metal. The first thing you'll notice, within the first 45 seconds of the opening track “Ash,” is it sounds a helluva lot like Trivium in their prime, but they quickly change gears into full-on, quality Arch Enemy-style death metal.

Vocals are provided by Mary Zimmony, and while her growled vocals are audibly analogous to Arch Enemy's Angela Gossow, her clean vocals are not the most melodious you'll ever hear, being fairly average and often falling flat. Apparently Mary is a classically trained vocalist, but you wouldn't really believe it.

The music Luna Mortis plays is a pretty standard but enjoyable mix of the aforementioned genres, but there are a few standout tracks and progressive elements thrown in. Album highlight “Never Give In” has some arpeggiated shredding that Nevermore's Jeff Loomis would be proud of, featuring guitarists Brian Koenig & Cory Scheider wildly dueling against each other, and there are some Opeth-esque riffs to be found frittered around the album, but they are few and far between.

The Absence is a record from a band with a lot of potential, but one that is still trying to find their footing. If Mary can work on her clean vocals, maybe even ditching them altogether, and the band can find a way of expanding on their progressive elements, mixing it with their new-found style, we could have something really special from this promising young band.

--Rich Taylor

Author

Rich
Last updated: 09/29/2009 09:04PM

Comments

Bells and Whistles
03/09/2009
07:07PM
Location
Edmonton, AB

You're right, those sung vocals are not good. This band is pure cheese.

Rick Gebhardt
03/10/2009
06:08AM
Age: 31
Location
Minnesota

I was really looking forward to this... then was pretty let down when I actually heard it.  Not bad, but could have been so so so so much better.

Find me EVERYWHERE:

fictional
03/10/2009
03:44PM
Age: 32
Location
Bayside,NY

seriously this was so bad. I was expecting something decent. the vocals were crap

Spartan E7
03/10/2009
05:24PM
Age: 25
Location
Infinitely Inwards

Balls.

Ever Forthright - Ever Forthright
Fallujah - The Harvest Wombs
The New Law - The Fifty Year Storm
The Mars Volta - Noqtourniqet
Aborted - Global Flatline
Spawn of Possession - Incurso
Crippled Black Phoenix - (Mankind)The Crafty Ape

Bill Lohr
03/11/2009
05:08AM
Age: 28
Location
Lehigh Valley, PA

I felt like I got taken advantage of after listening to this album.