Lunatica
New Shores

April 2009
Released: 2009, Napalm Records
Rating: 3.0/5
Reviewer: Munkwunk

Hailing from Switzerland, Lunatica is a female-fronted symphonic power metal band in the vein of Nightwish, and NEW SHORES is their fourth full-length studio release since the band's inception in 1998. The band's previous release, THE EDGE OF INFINITY, is one of my favorite female power metal releases to date, so imagine my excitement when I discovered that they had released another album under my radar.



Unfortunately, NEW SHORES isn't quite the album that THE EDGE OF INFINITY was. Whereas the latter was mostly power metal with the occasional forgivable "pop metal" song, NEW SHORES is a pop metal album with the occasional power metal song. That isn't to say it's a terrible album – the band still performs as well as ever and Andrea's vocals are still some of the best in her class – but the power is severely lacking. There are occasionally some crunchy riffs and lightning-fast solos, such as on "My Hardest Walk", but for the most part NEW SHORES falls in to the symphonic metal trap of making every piece sound almost unidentifiable from the rest.



I would highly recommend Lunatica to fans of female power metal, but you're better off picking up THE EDGE OF INFINITY if you're new to the band. NEW SHORES is okay for a relaxing evening, or sharing with your less metal-inclined friends, but this isn't an album worth going out of your way for unless you're a die hard Lunatica fan.