### Moonshine: Eternal

#### 17/11/08 || HailandKill

Their name could mistakenly connote illicit alcohol, but plain bad English is at the root of this misunderstanding. Despite the lousy grammar that has long-plagued heavy metal (i.e. “I’m madly in anger with you”?), for these South Koreans, a limited grasp of a second language turns extra awkward because there are actually more English speaking people in Asia than Europe, Australia, and America combined. (Consider a few hundred million Indians, a gazillion Filipinos, plus the bilingual demographic from the Middle East, Pakistan, China, Malaysia, Singapore… yeah, Asia rules.) Unfortunately, even this advantage did not save Moonshine from delivering 2008’s strangest lyrics.

A few brilliant examples:

“He’s a paranoia/he treads on me like a social climber.”

“Ceaseless bomb explodes/They’re no name hired.”

“Don’t you see what I say? You must pay what you deserve.”

“I’m holding all your hands in vein.” – HailandKill thinks someone has mixed up their anatomy.

Alright, enough of the silliness, this latest offering to the Global Domination altar deserves a far more punishing scrutiny. Ignoring the band’s twisted grasp of the lingua franca, “Eternal”, being Moonshine’s third album, is at its core a straight-laced gothic metal entree. No guttural vocals, fuzzy guitars, or rumbling double bass here. To trim down the comparisons, think of every female fronted band in Europe playing mid-tempo. That’s Moonshine, except it’s a guy named Amon singing. However, there’s a smidgen of female vocals from Paranoid, a recent addition to Moonshine’s lineup whose sole task is rounding the album’s two duets, “(We) Die Cold” and “No Name”.

Opener “Moonshine Madness” introduces the listener to the band’s whining lead guitar that always comes accompanied by sparkling keyboards. Though the way the tunes on “Eternal” are simple and straightforward—there’s nary a trace of indecent complexity on the album—they do bathe the listener in fake emotional syrup. On its second track, “(We) Die Cold”, Paranoid and her male counterpart nonchalantly contemplate death. It’s a very engaging quasi-ballad whose bobbing melody climaxes at the smashing distortion driven chorus, a well worn formula that can be broken down to: subtlety blossoms into heavy shit in a three minute loop. Past the radio-friendly rock single “True Heart” (seriously now, a lot of this album could dent the charts if the band had the right backing—crap grammar be damned) the next song, “Isolation”, is a rare glimmer of Moonshine’s extreme roots. It’s as if they told themselves “fuck the goth shit, let’s advertise our death metal influences”, and in doing so attain one of the album’s peaks.

Repenting the sudden adventure into the realm of insane decibels, the band retrace their steps on “Dark Reception” where the slow drumming of Giga pairs up with his partner in crime’s foggy voice. This dude Amon delivers his lyrics so cool, it’s like an air conditioner were singing a lullaby for your funeral. “Chaos Lover” maintains the album’s consistency and is the rightful champion in “Eternal’s” singles showdown. If the band had one song that should be on radio and TV, its “Chaos Lover”. Though “Dying In Beauty” and the straightforward heavy metal on “Breathless” come close.

Paranoid and Amon’s voices come together again for “No Name” and by the time it finishes Moonshine invest the sum of their creativity on an instrumental titled “Regret”. But wait, the credits aren’t rolling yet as four re-mastered cuts from the album await the unsuspecting listener. The only remix in these numbers are the Korean lyrics that actually sound better than the originals when sung. Compressing the sum of this review inside the proverbial nutshell, “Eternal” has nice songs, nice production, nice cover art (done by some Swedish dude who previously worked with Dark Tranquility), and spotty English. Not bad. Since it’s been established how “Eternal” can hold its own globally, it would be within Moonshine’s rights to celebrate by popping a good vintage and bringing out the kimchi. This album won’t sell millions, but it’s a rock solid effort.

7 people who will read this review and then visit Moonshine’s website out of 10.

- Information
- Released: 2008
- Label: Dope Entertainment
- Website: www.moonshine.co.kr
- Band
- Amon: vocals, guitar
- Giga: drums
- Paranoid: vocals
- M: bass

- Tracklist
- 01. Moonshine Madness
- 02. (We) Die Cold
- 03. True Heart
- 04. Isolated
- 05. Dark reception
- 06. Chaos Lover
- 07. Dying in Beauty
- 08. Breathless
- 09. No Name
- 10. Regret
- Bonus Tracks
- 11. (We) Die Cold
- 12. True Heart
- 13. Dark Reception
- 14. Chaos Lover