#VAGABONDZREVIEW: BEAST IN BLACK - MOONLIGHT RENDEZVOUS

After 2 years break we finally have some new Beast In Black music and these news are just perfect! Since the release of From Hell With Love in 2019 I couldn't stop thinking of the amazing new stuff coming from especially this band and NOW it's time to give the single a listen.

Beast In Black - Dark Connection (OUT ON 29 OCTOBER VIA NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS)

Beast In Black has been very special band for me. I first heard their main hit song Blind And Frozen back to 2018 on Radio Rock Suomi (from where I reached every band I fond of now). The music seemed unusual and enchanting that's why I searched the band and started following their updates. Due to understandable reasons it now seems unbelieveable that I even attended their live show in 2019! That concert has become one of the most remarkable ones because of high quality performance set by the band, pure talent of the musicians and their ability to attract the crowd. Let's hope we are able to attend the live shows again very soon.

Now back to the release. Moonlight Rendezvous has become the first single from upcoming Dark Connection album to be released on October 29 via Nuclear Blast Records. It's noticible that upcoming record was created under inspiration of cyperpunk anime (which I'm not even close to) loved by the band's songwriter and main composer Anton Kabanen. The upcoming release is all about modern technologies ruling the world. The new single confirmes that main influence of the band's main songwriter and composer; the entire sound is wide and modern. But less heavy.

The first thing that strikes the eye is the song duration. Moonlight Rendezvous is one of the longest songs released by Beast In Black lasting for 5.39 minutes. The only longer song was Oceandeep - breathtaking ballad of From Hell With Love. My first guess is that Moonlight Rendezvous has really long instrumental intro. It's just like that!

The song intro is made in undoubtedly recognizible way for Beast In Black. Long keyboard melody soon becomes accompanied by heavy guitars building the main riff. This time we don't hear any attention grabbing guitar parts like we did in Berserker album for instance in Hell For All Eternity. That song was the first to come to my mind because it had strong and powerful guitar parts and there were more tough sound that prevailed over keyboards. In Moonlight Rendezvous everything is reversed - keys prevail, guitars accompany. Taking into account the main topic of the song the choice of dominating instrument seems accountable.

I had a feeling that I heard the same kind of intro in earlier music written by Anton Kabanen. The answer came shortly. To those who are familiar with previous Anton's band Battle Beast have probably heard some similarities between Moonlight Rendezvous and breathtaking Touch In The Night song. To my mind it was deathless hit written by Anton back to 2014-2015 because everything was perfect in that song - the idea, lyrics, arrangement... There were times when I listened to that song on repeat trying to catch some inspiration for writing own music.

The intro of Moonlight Rendezvous is structucally same to Touch In The Night - kick beat, pleasing and relaxing keybords melody accompanied by power guitar sound through the blast bridge. The instrumental intro seems pretty long and as for me it's more about advantages of the song because it's always great to be listening to Moonlight Rendezvous kinda song. As intro part lasting I can't hide the feeling I'm still listening to Touch In The Night. Then when intro breaks the similarities to Touch In The Night are coming to end. The calm keys part is now changed by main guitar riff and it's typical Beast In Black style and sound! But still keybords keep dominating over guitar, so there's kinda mixture of two sounds. Personally, I prefore a bit more guitar but less keys and moreover, Moonlight Rendezvous guitar sound seemed me weaker than in previous two records. Now it would be interesting to hear the whole album guitars sound because I prefer heavier and more definite one as it was Berserker. But I'm sure the desicion to make lighter and less heavier sound is conditioned by song style and topic. The same way of making guitar sound was also in Touch In The Night released in 2015.

Finally after really long intro there's time for verse. Yannis Papadopoulos's unrepeattable vocals are still doing magic to Beast In Black music and mostly it's the main reason people adore this band so much. The vocals range versatility he keeps demonstrating both in vocal covers and Beast In Black songs has always enchanted me. I can't remember any vocalist able to control their voice in so talanted way. In Moonlight Rendezvous you can notice this versatility and flexibility in both verses when vocals are jumping from clean to screaming, demonstarating real power of Yannis's voice.

The beginning is calming and easy listening but after the second chorus we finally hear captivating bridge. This time I really fancy listening the combination of both guitars and keys. Overall sound is making me headbanging, I guess it's the best part in Moonlight Rendezvous. Just imagine how AMAZING it would sound during the live show... And we remember that Beast In Black can make wild ones (read this live concert review written after Beast In Black show in Moscow).

Couple blast beats after (that could be made longer for brighter bridge) there's guitar solo time. It's written in incredibly talented way as always done in Beast In Black music. Shred elements make good dynamics to the song but to my mind the beginning of the solo is too quiet or chewed. It's a bit difficult to catch the melody in some moments. But again, it could be made to better express the song topic.

Another moment that made me feel thrilled is filling where chorus part is accompanied with keys and drums only. This part also adds up to dynamics and suits the song magnificently. Guitars in outro are just pure adrenaline and exactly as they should finish the song. I guess, I prefer the second part of the song much more than first.

Strong 80s influence has also been one of characteristics of Beast In Black music. It can be noticed in synth sound that is very close to the one used in 80s-90s rock and pop music. The versatility of that sound is shown the best especially in combination with heavy guitars and both clean and growling vocals (that can be heard in Beast In Black songs time after time). Vocals are inspired by legendary Judas Priest and W.A.S.P. who've been the main inspiration of Beast In Black members.

Moonlight Rendezvous is typical Beast In Black song. Nothing more nothing less. Classic synth sounds taking us back to 80s era and modern power metal vibes still remind we are in 2021. The song may be interesting to the new Beast In Black listeners, but for older ones won't probably notice anything special in the new single. Anyway, I delight high quality work and attention to the details Beast In Black keep showing. It's hard to make any conclusions now, because it's just the first song released out of 13. When we have full record available it will be easier to understand whole picture.

Now it's time to wait for October 29 to listen to the entire record. I would like to express hope that the new album would show real power metal sound with a bit more agressive guitars and maybe containing a bit another song structure with bridges like we heard in Moonlight Rendezvous and most of Berserker album songs. I would also like to go though all song lyrics after listen to Dark Connection.

Mark October 29 in your calendars, because the new review would be surely to come!