Moondark – The Shadowpath

Moondark

The Shadowpath

by Calen Nesten at 09 August 2015, 2:13 AM

On May 1^st 2015 short lived 90's Death Metal band MOONDARK re-released their album “The Shadowpath”. If you are an old fan of MOONDARK you should dig this re-release. It comes with brand new album art, a few photos of the band, lyrics and a very limited T-shirt run. I've always found it a shame when a good band doesn't get recognition they deserve, they go ignored for many years, completely missing out on chances to draw new fans. Maybe they were musically ahead of their time or were just swept under the rug in a slew of similar sounding bands. Whichever the case, it's nice when good bands re-release old material or get together to re-spark their musical fire. And then we have MOONDARK.

The music is good enough, it's your standard heavy, slow looping riff complete with heavy distortion and the drums are slow but precise. Then the vocalist opens their mouth, it's a hideous abomination that you would think would be right at home in a Death band. But there is just something wrong with it, it sounds like that time your beer-stuffed uncle belched the alphabet at Thanksgiving while gargling mashed potatoes (that happens to all of us, right?). Somehow MOONDARK takes a generic, but respectable sound and does absolutely nothing with it. I get it though, they were young and inexperienced, I dread my old Epic Metal band's EP being unearthed and resurrected. It seems like the guys from MOONDARK did learn their lesson, many of them went on to form Death Metal group UNCANNY, while other members formed INTERMENT. Both of which are significantly better bands in all aspects. . It's always a shame to see talented people in a sub-par band, but I'm glad the guys in MOONDARK have found other, better projects to occupy their time.