"
Senmorta" is the brand new EP from Moonknight, the solo project of Horus aka James Brown III, who you might know from the band Harassor who also runs
Rising Beast Recordings. For these 5 new songs, Horus has stepped away from the atmospheric black metal style established on releases like "
Ligeia", "
Toplov" and the recent split 7" with Ukraine's Moloch, opting instead for a vicious blackened death/thrash approach. Featuring live drums from Andorkappen aka Lord Time, these songs carry the Moonknight aesthetic into new territory and will serve as a precursor to the next full-length.
Indeed, this slight turn in Moonknight's sound is a challenge, specially to Horus. The songs on "Senmorta" may have acquired new dynamics and new structures but they haven't lost their essence, well hidden in its core. In other words, when we first hear these new tracks we quickly recognize that we are face to face with Moonknight. Like in "Street Rot City" and "Usurpers", the first two opening tracks of the EP, they clearly have a strong thrash and punk vibe behind, treated here with that special and unique touch that only Horus can give. The guitar still sounds incisive enough while the vocals clearly pull to an almost old school death metal territories. Just like "Usurpers", "A.R.S." is a short track, they almost reach the two minute mark, but that's more than enough to state that this new turn, in terms of sound, will certainly extend in future records of Moonknight. Short but effective. Done.
But then there are tracks like "A Dying Star" that seem to peek into the past where Moonknight still manages, amidst this blackness, to embody in his music elements of such beautiful, almost romantic melancholy making it to sound so special and unique. I really love this (not so) softer side of Mooknight's music. But not all here is roses, well.. it can be, but they are black and have big and sharp thorns.
"Phantom World", the track that closes this great EP in all of its glory, carries those same romantically dramatic elements that swirl around frenetic and chaotic rhythms. It's almost as if Mooknight grabs that kind of romantic sadness that we only hear in genres like post-punk or shoegaze and reinterprets here in his own way. I can only describe the weight of drama on this track in one word: Beautiful.
With "Senmorta", Moonknight opens a new passage to new, well-known territories but always with one eye in the past. Honestly, I really enjoyed this EP, it left me begging for more. The sound here is sharp and cohesive with moments that can go from the most frenetic thrash/punk style to a more atmospheric/melancholic kind of black metal. I really look forward to another full-length of Moonknight.
Meanwhile head over to Rising Beast Bandcamp and stream/download this great EP by Mooknight, just follow the link below. A limited edition tape of "Senmorta" will see the light of day soon, so keep your eyes opened for this one.
