Year: 2025
Label: Iron Bonehead Productions
Rating: 8,2 / 10
There are two Finnish metal maniacs behind the MOONFALL band, whose track record alone makes them be treated with respect. The editors of the Macabre Overdose fanzine, the founders / participants of almost two dozen decent bands (among them is CEREMONIAL TORTURE, which may be familiar to readers of the Bagnik by the split with BLACK GOAT). One of them even plays guitar in BEHERIT!
"Odes to The Ritual Hills" is a short (27 minutes) full-length album offering measured, ancient Black Metal that existed before the Scandinavians started blowing frosty winds and going wild with blast beats. SAMAEL, BAXAXAXA, MOENEN OF XEZBETH, MORTUARY DRAPE, XANTOTOL – MOONFALL's music brings these names to mind. Well, and old BEHERIT, too. Sinister keyboard parts, rhythmic unhurried guitars, inhuman growls and screams from the dark caverns. The opening and final instrumentals are a classic "dungeon synth". But despite this, MOONFALL's sound is a bit uncanonical. It's quite an interesting fusion here, where some parts sound like something from the border of the 80s and 90s, while others are completely modern. Perhaps it's the drum machine, which cannot be passed off as an old real instrument. As a result, we have a peculiar kind of digital-analogue mix, if you allow me to use such a metaphor. This gives MOONFALL a unique character, and I always welcome that.
There is nothing more to describe here. Must have for the fans of primordial "ritual" Black Metal.
