The opening track “Progeny” was the first single from the release from Melbourne’s LUNE. Inspired by family issues that have impacted their lives, Nathaniel Smith and guitarist brother Kris release built up frustrations with a groove metal influence.
Throughout the release, there are ebbs of flows of the screaming aggression and the clean parts. The melodic moments are not as catchy as some of their contemporaries, but the band backs Smith’s rage with elements that occasionally remind of Meshuggah. For the Swedish feel, LUNE worked with Buster Odeholm for the mixing and mastering of the follow-up to their debut EP “Ghost”.
There is more to this than a standard sing/scream metalcore release, and this has captured the attention of Resist Records. You can see the influence of some late-era Poison The Well on some of their songs, particularly “Winter Sun”, which has more melody on the buildup before Smith unleashes his frustrations at the back end of the song.
While the band will stand out for their differences in a crowded metalcore marketplace, sometimes the listener is hanging out for a huge breakdown or anthemic chorus. The clean parts were few and far between on predecessor “Ghost”, so the band is expanding their sound. On “Left Behind”, the band teamed up with Garrett Russell from Silent Planet for some extra vocal power.
I feel there is potential in the band for a longer release and I will be interested to see where they go from here.
LUNE: Facebook
Release Year: 2023
Label: Resist Records
Category: EP
Country: Australia
Reviewed by Daniel Boyle
