Moonlight Haze‘s 2022 piece Animus was one of the Power Metal highlights of that very same year. Founded in 2018 by two Temperance survivors – Chiara Tricarico and Giulio Capone1 – they went on to create what today is a well-known band in the Italian PM sub-section of metal.
The 2022 piece took it away with new-found oomph and a pretty healthy swagger. You know, traits that make you win over fans and sell a ton more records than before. So, what’s it gonna be this time beyond those old records? Let the Metal o’ the Light illuminate you.
Beyond truly is Happy Metal incarnate. Right off the self-named pretty remarkable intro, Tame The Storm does anything but tame the band’s spiel. Instead, the track leaves off at full speed in a typical yet snazzy Power Metal piece, with Tricarico leading the charge and the furious drumming giving it warpowers. And – surprise – suddenly they veer off into the symphonic arena for added spice. This tells me that Moonlight Haze are still fired up enough to try and kick this thing up a few notches still.
The continued variation in their tune struck me second. The surprisingly well-paced Untold and The Awakening seem to emerge straight from Nightwish‘s backyard with a Power Metal connotation. But – not to be confused with the latter’s more contemporary fever dreams. Time to Go – for instance – gets you a potpourri of Power and Symphonic Metal with, wait for it, some (subdued) growls thrown in for good measure. That’s pretty new from a band with a history of dealing in down-the-middle Power Metal musings.
And Beyond has got bite. D.N.A. (Do Not Apologize) offers an acid-laced, snottily sneaky, power-hungry snack of a track. One that finds its brownie points not only in a strangely altered yet powerful, well-balanced PM song with a keyboard solo to boot. But also one with a marked uptick in the lyrics department. This probably is the most surprising track on this record and beyond. And for once, the ballad of the piece – L’Eco Del Silenzio – actually sounds like one and not like some heap of cheese from the 10th circle of hell. And that even if half of the track comes in Italian, a trait that I’m not too much of a fan of.
So, that’s much praise for a relatively short blurb of a record of some 38 minutes of airtime. Unsurprisingly, it is the band carrying the day, as always. And Moonlight Haze manifests itself with a will to take this further still. A trait we already discovered on Animus. And I would have never known that the infamous Sascha Paeth is behind the production. Usually, you can tell by the hidden mushiness in the mix and master. Yet here, nothing is directly apparent. So, either I’m getting old or he’s getting better. Probably both.
But more importantly, Beyond shines with Chiara Tricarico truly on fire. She evidently evolved further since Animus hit this zine. The way she varies her singing style to meet the occasion rocked us back in our chairs a few times. In addition, the axemen’s string work and the terrible keyboard are now way better balanced than before. And you got yourself a drummer with taste and a knack for – again – finding that perfect pathway allowing him driving this forward without killing the mix with overwhelming force.
So, will Beyond beat Animus at Moonlight Haze‘s game? The RMR crew wasn’t all that certain. A lot of improvement is surely more than apparent. Songwriting, singing style, ideation, storyline – all of those shine brightly in one of the better Power Metal pieces found on RMR to date. The band for sure didn’t lose power over their older records. And Beyond can stand proudly amongst the other outstanding Power Metal records available to us. Yet, to get to greatness, they need a tad more effort still.
This is a cool and truly refreshing record, though. The RMR crew can’t wait for more to come from a band with promise for future glory. Have at it, guys.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: Scarlet Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 23 May 2025
- Don’t get me started. -Ed.-↩