Hunters Moon - The Serpents Lust

December 7, 2009

Reviewer: Kesh

Black metal bands from down under seem to be making waves in the international music scene.  Hunters Moon, a two-man project with a session drummer, is one of these who has broken out of the Southern Hemisphere and brought their music up North. Formed by members of the bands Nocturnal Grave and Denouncement Pyre, Hunters Moon tries to stay firmly in the realm of black metal but adds a slight black thrash element for flavoring.

Grandiose guitar riffs and heavy drums are not enough to save this EP though, and a little bit more refining is needed before they will be able to pull off a full length album. The music is easy and enjoyable, but there just seems to be a certain unmeasurable quality that many other bands have and Hunters Moon seems to be somewhat lacking: the vocals just don’t pair up with the music.

To give the band some credit, they are all very decent musicians. But (and I hate to single one person out of the band in this manner), vocalist Lust is almost to the point of being mismatched with the music, and his vocals would be much better suited to songs written similarly to “Baphomet.” In short - the vocals reduce the music’s promise, not meshing with the music save on the one track. I found myself enjoying the two instrumental tracks “Deadly Praise,” and “Last Rights” much more than anything else on the album. A very unfortunate thing for a band that would have a lot of potential if they can get their act together.

The album starts out with a short but mellow intro track, and then proceeds into the track “A Light in the Abyss,” possibly the strongest song on the entire EP. The problem with the next track, “The Ravens Swoon,” is that it sounds too much like the track before it.  It might as well have been part of the previous track or titled “Light in the Abyss Part 2.” While “The Ravens Swoon” does have a catchy rhythm line, neither of these first two songs stands out very much from one another.

“Baphomet,” is the band’s saving grace, thrashing its way in and helping itself to your girlfriend and beer. It’s a good party track and makes the disc worth the listen. This song is fast and borderline thrashy, and more songs like this would make the band a little bigger and more fun to listen to. The title track “The Serpents Lust” tries to continue the party feeling of “Baphomet” but falls just short of its goal. The only real standout in the song is the guitar solo about halfway through. Finally, “Last Rites” slows it down with another mellow instrumental, beefing it up midway with an impressive guitar solo that adds to the overall enjoyment of the track.

For being described as an “epic” black metal band, Hunters Moon’s music seems somewhat watered-down, like they are holding back. Lyrically they are very strong, and their words paint very vivid scenes of the Devil and Hell, but the music doesn’t mesh with the lyrics very well. I would also note that the vocalist sounds somewhat like former vocalist of Marduk, Legion, which made the album somewhat interesting to listen to.  With fifty percent of the album being good and the other half being ho-hum, it might be worthwhile to watch how these Aussies progress with their coming releases. I hesitate to call them “promising,” but with some improvement they may become noteworthy.

Release Date: August 28th, 2009
Label: Hells Headbangers

TRACK LISTING

1.  Deadly Paradise
2.  A Light In The Abyss
3.  The Ravens Swoon
4.  Baphomet
5.  The Serpents Lust
6.  Last Rites

Total playing time: 21:01

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