Power of Metal.dk Review

The Moor
Year of the Hunger
Rating
Style: Prog Metal
Release date: 16 November, 2012
Playing time: 54:33
 

“Year of the Hunger” encompasses elements from a wide range of genres: Death Metal grunts and blastbeats, Prog Metal song dynamics and vintage Blues Rock vibes…..to name a few. However the essence and sound production seem to place the album within the Hard Rock category.

 

This ambiguity stems from The Moor’s philosophy to refute the restrictions entailed with categorisation. And that is an approach which I wholeheartedly endorse. At times, though, this same attitude makes the album feel ‘slippery’…..in other words as a listener you sometimes struggle to grasp onto the music properly. Whether that is a virtue or a drawback is subjective, I suppose.

 

What is not in doubt, however, is the level of musicianship of this Italian quartet, even though they don’t always seem interested in flaunting their prowess. Take ‘Covered’ for instance: the songs contains some brilliantly Thrashy riffs interspersed with some catchy vocal melodies – and it all sounds so deceptively straightforward. The (instrumental) title-track is somewhat more atmospheric with some excellent interplay between guitar arpeggios and riffs, courtesy of Enrico Longhin and Davide Carraro. Since I’m heaping praise on the album I cannot omit to mention ‘Venice’ which contains some guest female vocals – I particularly liked the piano sounds and the song’s magical outro. The Moor also throw in an instrumental version of this song, which I must say sounds really great too.

 

So there’s a lot of stuff to uncover at every new listen and fans of bands such as The Flower Kings and Opeth might take particular joy in doing that. There is, however, one main thing that failed to strike a chord with me and that’s the ‘clean’ vocals. Not that Enrico (yes, he also supplies lead vocals) has a bad voice but there were several times that the songs cried out for a more powerful Metal-sounding voice.

 

Ultimately “Year of the Hunger” is an excellent debut that, quite remarkably, manages to inject fresh ideas into the Prog Rock landscape.


Tracklist

PART I – Noble Truth of Suffering
01. Hyperuranium
02. The Others
03. The Road
04. Covered
05. Year Of The Hunger
 

PART II – Path of Liberation
06. Clouds and Shales
07. Before Abigail
08. Liquid Memories
09. Antikythera
10. Venice
11. The Arising of Volition

12. Venice (instrumental version)

Label: Lion Music
Distribution: Border Music Distribution AB
Reviewed by: Chris Galea
Date: 7 November, 2012
Website: www.themoor.org