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MOON MADNESS - STROKE OF MIDNIGHT
BLUE VIOLET RECORDS
METAL TO INFINITY
Another Finnish newcomer is Moon Madness that is planning to release a full length album, but first prefer to awaken the metal community with a single release, named ''Stroke Of Midnight''. From the very first moment, the front cover draws my attention with a picture of the members of the band, including a black haired beauty that is taking care of the female vocals. Heidi Bergbacka is the name of this frontlady and curious as I am, I want to check her vocal ability, because most of the times we hear operatic voices, or typical Gothic metal voices. Not that I have something against it, but the scene likes to welcome a real rock goddess at a time, and that's exactly what you can expect from Heidi. She's the one with the balls and her voice is rocking like the good old days. It's great to hear that a normal voice is still in the running and if that chick like leather and spikes with some good old fashioned hard rock, we are pleased all the way!
Judging a band on one audio track is simply impossible. The song that we get to hear is okay, but ''Stroke Of Midnight'' isn't anything more that just okay. It doesn't raise the 'waauuuw' feeling, so we can conclude that this is an average track that leaves the door open for more.... Luckily, there is more, and the second track is a video so we aren't limited in hearing only. What we see is a very well directed video clip of the track 'Ain't No Angel'. Again it's nice to see the front woman fluttering the stage, while the other musicians are giving the best they can get from their instruments. My appreciation goes to drummer Anttonikolai and keyboard player Turkka who attract the camera with their impressive playing, but when the solo of Otto Hallamaa begins, we see a teenager Ritchie Blackmore or Axel Rudi Pell's youngest son...(lol).
My conclusion about Moon Madness is simple. This band has the skills to write good songs, and fans of old Rainbow might be surprised about the resemblance of their idols. The band succeeded in drawing my attention, but I do need to hear more to give an honest opinion about the quality of this band. Although ''Stroke Of Midnight'' is chosen as single release, I do prefer the, so called, B-side 'Ain't No Angel', but perhaps it has all to do with the visual extra that we get in the video clip. My rating: 80/100
Patrick de Sloover on behalf of Metal To Infinity Webzine