Moonlight Haze (Italy) - melodic metal - "Set the sail and go and leave the tempest behind you"

Moonlight Haze

Beyond

Scarlet Records

23 May 2025

What a fun album! Fans of catchy, positive songwriting and of melodic, upbeat songs in general should find here lots to listen to a couple of times, and then after those couple of times, it’s very likely that the listener will notice that the entire work is worth delving deeper into to see what it is really all about. After a brief mellow and ethereal introduction of some two and half minutes, they begin with a pretty heavy number, and we’re off to the races!

On their three previous albums these Italians were categorized as something like “neosymphonic power metal,” but I have to tell you, this band on their fourth album rocks out. Moonlight Haze sounds energized. It's a good new direction. It's still melodic and catchy, and still elegant, but this is not keyboard-dominant mellow music with super high operatic vocals. While the ballad “L'eco del silenzio” features operatic singing and the Italian language, it is not the total direction of the album. Believe you me, they could do operatic vocals on all the songs, considering that their singer Chiara Tricarico has the ability to sing that way, but Moonlight Haze has chosen rock!

It's heavier, more uptempo, with the drums and guitars taking on a more pronounced presence. I'm happy with the new sound. It assimilates the various phases of their music, and adds a bouncing, rocking feel to it. It works! Now that they are on their fourth album, Moonlight Haze has become more visible on the European scene, and deservingly so. For example, the singer Chiara Tricarico has been singing live with Avantasia, which means that the melodic metal big boss Tobias Sammet, one of the most important figures in power metal, has been paying attention. Really, though, I feel like this band will be achieving a whole lot more success in the future. Fans of melodic metal may want to get on this bandwagon now. It’s not too late, and I’m sure the band is now accepting new applicants, so inquire within.  

Beyond by Moonlight Haze

https://www.facebook.com/moonlighthazemetalband

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