Moonshade is a Portuguese Melodic Death Metal band, from Porto, in the north of Portugal.
I met their frontman Ricardo through a Facebook music page a few months ago. I first thought it would be just another weak death metal band, but I changed my mind completely when I heard the first track of this demo/mixtape. Melodic, heavy, catchy and with a incredible dark/light ambient blend ( like Iron Maiden's Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, or Opeth's Blackwater Park ). Moonshade isn't just only a 'melodeath' band, they have some progressive rock and metal influences, which makes Moonshade's sound remarkable. Over the top vocals, great melodic guitar lines, great bass and great drumming, well, all the parts of this band are great . Althought this is only a mixtape, Moonshade is a band with a strong potential to be one of the best "modern" melodic death metal bands.
1 - Blindness (05:31)
Very good slow/ambient intro (the Opeth's progressive metal influence is displayed here). Great melodic riffs and fantastic vocals. The drumming is quite simple here, but very precise.
2- Tenebrae Aeternum (05:41)
Very Heavy intro, very melodic riffs and a very catchy rhythm. If you like to headbang, listen to this track now !
3- Deicide (The Path Of Redemption) (04:36)
Prepare to headbang! This is the heavier song of the demo. The vocals here are completely insane, with a good growl and clean combination ( something that does not sound good in some melodic death metal songs). Fast and heavy. The perfect melodic death metal song.
4- Rise Of The Damned (05:44)
The progressive rock intro is fantastic (like Blindness). Loved the drumming in this song and the clean guitar lines. The bass is very strong in this song. A great closer for a great mixtape/demo.
Total : 21:33
