MoonSun – Rise And Shine
Album Review By Rainer Kerber
This is already the second duo to which I write something in recent days. MoonSun is the project of Susanne Scherer (vocals) and Thomas Kolbin (all instruments). Thomas first brought Susanne to his band Mystic Hour, as a singer with a classical soprano. At this time, the two also founded their side project MoonSun. Since the end of Mystic Hour in 2012, this has obviously been her main field of activity. So far, the duo has released two regular albums, one album with acoustic and cover songs and three single. In September last year the EP “Rise And Shine” was released. It may be a bit late for a review, but certainly not too late.
A lot of orchestration, deep riffing and a songstress who also sings a bit deeper. The EP starts with catchy melodies in “Do not Lie to Me”. Her duo partner Tobias Kolbin contributes spoken words. “Until I Collapse” is a partly acoustic ballad. Here, the two deviate clearly from the occurred paths of symphonic metal. That makes the song for me one of the highlights of the EP. Instead “Let Me Escape” is properly arranged with bombast again. In addition to the synth strings, you can also hear epic choruses. Otherwise, that’s a slightly uplifting pop-rock song. Here songstress Susanne Scherer ventures into higher tone ranges. These sound very cleanly sung. Also, the second ballad “Return Home” belongs to the above-average songs of the EP. This is followed by another very poppy rock song (“Fight and Pray”), the sometimes-straight rocking “Desire” and finally another ballad song (“Still Miss You”), which can also be assigned more to the pop range.
I have to admit, the EP “Rise And Shin” leaves me with mixed feelings. There is not much to hear from the bands that the two are like (Powerwolf, Nightwish, Rammstein, Amon Amarth, Muse – Source Facebook). Occasional riffs and harder passages are repeatedly counteracted by pop influences. And the mostly beautiful melodies cannot hide one or the other weakness in the instrumentation. MoonSun should decide whether they want to be a pure pop duo, or whether they want to establish themselves in melodic / symphonic metal. They definitely have the skills for this. They clearly showed that in their latest video “Scars”. With this single, they remind me a lot of Tarja. Keep it up!
MoonSun – Don’t Lie To Me: https://youtu.be/UJl6f22x1SQ
Lineup:
Thomas Kolbin – All instruments
Susanne Scherer – Vocals
Label: Self distributed
Out: September 7th 2018
Playing time: 29:58
Track list:
- Don’t Lie to Me
- Until I Collapse
- Let Me Escape
- Return Home
- Fight and Pray
- Desire
- Still Miss You
Rating : 7.5/10
MHF Magazine/Rainer Kerber
