MoonMadness – “All In Between” (2008)

Label : Blue Violet Records

Review by Tony Cannella

MoonMadness hail from Finland and their style is melodic rock and metal that also shows off a strong 70s classic rock/metal influence to their songs. Their debut album is out now, titled “All In Between” and those mix of styles are on full display throughout this 38-minute opus.  The opening intro “On the Air” kicks things off and leads us into “Stroke of Midnight” and straight away, you hear that 70s classic rock and metal feel in MoonMadness that you don’t get with many of today’s female fronted metal bands. Thanks to the bands keyboard sound (played magnificently by Turkka Vuorinen) the band that most comes to mind immediately for me was Deep Purple or later era Rainbow, which are not bad bands at all to draw influences from. “Shot Through the Wing” quickly became a favorite of mine, with it’s faster tempo and great rhythms, this is really an excellent track that is a fantastic showcase for vocalist Heidi Bergbacka who really delivers such a strong vocal performance. The following track “Torn” is another good one that features a catchy melody and chorus and some more great vocals by Heidi. “All In Between” continues on a pretty consistent path with the following tracks “Before It’s Too Late” (just a great mid-tempo rock tune), “Too Much To Lose” and “Ain’t No Angel”. “All In Between” is a good release that is quite different from the majority of the female fronted metal albums that are coming out these days. It will be interesting to track the progress of MoonMadness in the next few years, because if “All In Between” is any indication, this is a band to watch for sure. It is a refreshing change of pace to hear a band like MoonMadness paying homage to a bygone era while still carving out a niche for themselves in 2010.