Album Review: Luna Rise - Smoking Kills, But Love Can Break A Heart

Far away from Mozart, folk tones, Falco or the EAV, there are many more musical pearls to discover when it comes to multi-faceted music from Austria. exist since 2011 «Luna Rise«, a dark melodic rock band from Upper Austria. This recently found a new musical home with NRT Records and so the debut EP "Smoking Kills But Love Can Break A Heart" was reissued without further ado. A good and recommendable piece of music, on which the band presents itself very calmly.

«Luna Rise» are musically assigned to Finnish melancholic dark and melodic rock and have a certain affinity to HIM. However, «Luna Rise» on «Smoking Kills, But Love Can Break A Heart» not only demonstrate amazing maturity and sovereignty, but also artistic independence. As already mentioned, the band was founded in 2011 and released their debut EP in the same year as the EP on hand. After "Luna Rise" switched to NRT-Records this year (2015), it was decided to reissue the EP before their first full-length album "Dark Days & Bright Nights" was released. The goal-oriented quintet was founded by singer Christian Lindner, who calls himself Chris Divine on stage, and bassist Rob Rocket. Colleagues for the project were quickly found and were thus complete with guitarist Luke Vegas, drummer Loup Garou and keyboard wizard LX aka Alex Dorfmayer. In 2014 the band got reinforcements with guitar prodigy Andy Earth - winner of the Robert Johnson Guitar Awards 2012 in Hamburg. Chris Divine skillfully sums up why the moon is so important for the team: «There are dozens of 'Sunrises'. For me, the moon has always had something mystical about it." And this mysticism is transferred 1:1 to their songs, which always bring something mysterious or even tragic with them that can no longer be gotten out of your ears with a good dose of pop.

Luna Rise - Dead Alley [Official Video]

When listening to the EP, HIM inevitably springs to mind as a comparison. However, "Smoking Kills But Love Can Break A Heart" by "Luna Rise" can't quite keep up with the professional production of such big names in the scene. Although the sound is clear, dense and clean and also appears very modern, it could have been more powerful and direct overall. As the volume is turned up, however, this impression disappears from listening session to listening session. All the tracks are geared towards the choruses, but everything in between is also spot on, with the keyboards leaning a little towards art rock. The diversity with which the goth rockers have implemented the whole thing here is really heart-warming. Not in the melancholic way, but rather the Upper Austrians offer a very rousing round. But the guys don't just hit the tube either and so there is also authentic sound material, which comes across as quite sad. However, they never get too fickle. Vocally it seems like man on the mic Chris Divine was born for this kind of music. He knows how to vocally express both the rock factor and the melancholy in the music of "Luna Rise" without orienting himself too much towards other artists. Young, if necessary sufficiently snotty and sometimes sensitive, Chris Divine uses his vocal chords. A solid performance for the level «Luna Rise» is at to date!

"Luna Rise" may be dedicated to pain, hope and love on "Smoking Kills, But Love Can Break A Heart," but soft rock is played elsewhere. They already make that clear with the first song "When You Fall". "I'll catch you if you fall" sings Chris Lindner in the catchy chorus and not only lacks any kitschy pathos, on the contrary, "Luna Rise" colors the song increasingly dark. It's nice when songs come up with surprising moments. It's immediately clear that you're listening to a rousing, catchy tune. Even if the first verse initially consists of simple guitar riffs and bass tones, the song continues to build up and reveals rock-solid lyrics and a multi-faceted song structure. A successful and direct introduction to this re-issue. The intro of "Dead Alley" sounds wonderfully like John Carpenter and with this song "Luna Rise" prove that they can also write emotional melodic rock songs. An impressive interplay of light and shadow is revealed to the listener in acoustic form. The whole thing is accompanied by a fragile piano, hard guitar riffs and a soulful voice. The whole composition grabs you immediately and transports you into a world of heartbreak. Very emotional, highly melodic and intoxicating, this song is in no way inferior to famous hits of the genre. The melody is relentlessly catchy and embeds itself permanently. This definitely makes you want more.

Luna Rise - VALENTINE [Official Music Video] ᴴᴰ

With "616" something HIM vibrates in the tones and you don't just feel reminded of HIM's "666" by the title. A rock love song characterized by melancholy, with dark keyboards and a distorted bass, which are abruptly accompanied by great guitars and drums. What the introduction represents briefly gives way to a minimalistic musical song structure, in which singer Chris stands out with a megaphone effect. The change between calmer passages and heaviness is very cool. "Glory Nightmare" then exaggerates the whole melancholy posturing too much and therefore seems a bit exaggerated. Clearly the weakest track on the disc. On the other hand, a "Beautiful Monster" that could easily have come from Ville Valo's pen is forgiving again. Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of the Finns, but I still like one or the other track and you have to acknowledge their success. The common thread does get lost every now and then, probably due to the different influences of the five, but over the next few years they will probably be able to reconcile them all and end up with a compact album. In any case, their penchant for the eighties cannot be overheard. Arrived at the pure essence of «When You Fall», which unfortunately doesn't even come close to the depth of the original when reduced, but clearly illustrates how the song came about. The spectacle ends with a remix, which may have its justification, but in my opinion it doesn't fit on this album. For me, the last song of a CD is of the same importance as the last song of a concert, which is usually a hit as an encore. That's why I would have preferred a song à la "616" or "Beautiful Monster" to end the EP. That would have been more appropriate and fitting.

There is something about «Luna Rise» that one looks for in vain these days. From the first to the last second you can tell the band's joy of playing and heart and soul. "Smoking Kills, But Love Can Break A Heart" is too much and too much HIM for me personally, for my case I prefer the original. Musically, "Luna Rise" can do something, that's for sure. It is best to simply shake the ingredients and, above all, your own seasoning, again in the cup, and see or hear what comes out. «Luna Rise» create and transport dark but not hopeless emotions. Stylistically based in melodic rock, you will find numerous influences such as hard rock and an unobtrusive pinch of pop. "Luna Rise" spans a range from love or romantic rock - or whatever you want to call it - to progressive metal, although pigeonholing is actually long gone these days. The album's only weak point is «Glory Nightmare», which falls a bit behind the rest of the songs. The rest shows the birth of a band that will probably go far in the years to come. "Luna Rise" invite you to a euphoric journey to the dark side of the moon and confidently rock into the hearts of the fans with the necessary portion of "pain" without ever sounding kitschy or even corny. The moonstruck five sets high goals and one can only wish them to achieve them. Because if you work with so much love for the music and also for the detail, you are granted five minutes of fame - of course more if you like. Fans of HIM and Melodic Rock fans will get their money's worth with this album!

You can do the album buy in our shop.

Tracklist:

1. When you fall
2. Dead Alley
3. 616
4. GloryNightmare
5. Beautiful monster

Bonus Tracks:

6. When You Fall (bedroom tape)
7. Dead Alley (glitch remix by Redkay)

[rwp-review id=»0″]